Trouble
by AutumnFroste
Summary: Natasha shows HYDRA the proper way to go about getting what you want. Excerpt: Tony smiled, "I think you just like creating a little chaos sometimes." Nat's emerald eyes sparkled, "Of course I do. It's in my nature." "Is it now," he asked. "How would you feel about creating a little chaos right now?" "I do like trouble."
1. Chapter 1: Chaos

Chapter 1: Chaos

"People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is." — L.M. Montgomery

Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, very quietly Tony asked Sam, "Do you think she's wearing anything underneath that shirt?" Tony was now staring. He was now wishing he'd sat at the bar instead of the table, which was further away from the kitchen. The only reason he'd sat there instead was so he could more easily spread his Stark Industries paperwork. Shockingly, this was on actual paper— paperwork that Pepper made him really look at quarterly, so he couldn't say he was left out of the loop. Since JARVIS was now part of Vision, it didn't hurt for someone who understood the technical, business, and mathematical side of things to look everything over, as FRIDAY was still learning the ins and outs. Also, when the occasional stockholder asked him a question at a fundraiser, Tony actually knew what he or she was rambling on about even if he was usually bored within the first minute— one minute and twenty seconds if the person was attractive and/or interesting. By the one minute and forty-five-second mark or sooner if his drink ran out, he began answering questions, generally using words that you needed to have an engineering degree or five to understand the basics. He left the person feeling so confused, that person was just grateful for the chance to have spoken with the great Tony Stark, to begin with.

Natasha's time posing as Natalie Rushman at Stark Industries gave Pepper a few ideas and quick fixes she came to appreciate early on in her days as CEO. Nat knew one of the fastest ways to take hold of a situation was to inundate the target with information. Taking her lead, Pepper learned to send the board members detailed packets of information about every new development that was to be discussed at the board meetings and, since she refused to babysit them, she had an additional copy at the meetings in case they were 'too busy' to look them over. These 'special' shareholders needed a pat on the head and a pacifier, hence the packet. As far as Pepper was concerned, it was one of Natalie Rushman's best ideas; however, if Tony was needed to explain something, he did so, at times in nauseating detail, much to her chagrin. This technique generally made the questioner never want to speak to Tony again, which was usually a good tactic for everyone involved.

Unfortunately, Congress was not one of those shareholders and senators and representatives tended to ask long-winded and boring questions. In which case, Tony would either give them the most concise answer as feasible in the most unpronounceable words as possible or he'd write practically a dissertation discussing the subject matter so intensely that a five-year-old could understand it, even if it involved a subject as complex as quantum physics.

He learned both of these strategies from Natasha one night when she couldn't sleep and was trying to get some paperwork finished for the World Security Council. He smiled fondly remembering the night. She had her still damp hair up in a ponytail and was wearing an SSR t-shirt that must have been a size or perhaps two, too small, but it had looked so good on her. She wore a pair of short gym shorts which showed off long legs stretched out on the coffee table. Her laptop was balanced on her thighs, and she was doing that mischievous half smile that he found far too attractive for his own good. He stood in the doorway and watched her quickly and precisely type word after word. Eventually, he couldn't stand it anymore and had to walk into the room. He brought her a cup of coffee, which made her look up, and their eyes met. She had fading bruises in various places along her body, but they didn't detract from her allure in the slightest.

"What are you doing that's got that devilish grin on your face," Tony asked as he sat next to her on the couch, a little closer than usual, but not uncomfortably so.

Nat hit 'send' and placed her laptop on the coffee table as she replied, "Sending a message to the WSC. I try to make it either as verbose as possible or so concise they have to read between the lines." Her grin spread a little, "Sometimes it's fun to do both, so some of the questions get the short answers and some are so very long."

Tony smiled, "I think you just like creating a little chaos sometimes."

Nat's emerald eyes sparkled, "Of course I do. It's in my nature." Nat sat her coffee cup down on the coffee table beside her laptop.

"Is it now," he asked. "How would you feel about creating a little chaos right now?"

"I _do_ like trouble," Nat smiled impishly, waiting for him to make the first move.

He turned his body and moved closer to her so their legs were touching. She raised an eyebrow at him and leaned toward him. He slid his hand lightly from the back of her shoulder up to her neck and pulled her in closer into the kiss. She moaned into his mouth, surprised at how quickly their kiss had escalated from chaste to hot and steamy. She threw her head back to give him space when he began kissing down her jaw. She grabbed him by his tie to pull him down on top of her as she shifted to lay backward on the oversized couch. Their eyes met again, both storming with emotion that neither was willing to talk about yet. She felt his erection against the inside of her thigh.

He continued kissing down her neck until he got to the shirt, deciding that going from the bottom up was the best way to handle this. He lightly nosed the shirt aside and pulled it up little by little, gleeful at every ounce of creamy white skin he could unveil. He brushed his lips against her and nipped his way up her abs until he got to her breasts. He peered up at her as he licked and sucked on the bottom of her breasts. She wiggled her hips against him, trying to get more friction between her legs. She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to her breasts.

Tony grinned and pulled away from her enough so he could take her shorts off, "I take it I may have found a sweet spot."

"Maybe," she answered teasingly. She leaned back on her elbows.

"Maybe," he asked as he pulled her shorts down her legs.

"Your science is flawed. You haven't checked where any other spots might be more or less sensitive." She bit her lip while she looked hungrily at him.

Tony looked at her thoughtfully, "Oh, you're absolutely right. I'm going to have to do a thorough scientific exploration into the matter." Nat nodded in agreement. "This will most certainly take multiple tests. I might even need a partner for some of those tests."

Tony took off his tie and dropped it on the floor. Then he began unbuttoning his dress shirt.

Natasha decided he was taking far too long to get naked. She tilted her head slightly before reaching down, unbuttoning his pants, and shoving them and his boxers down to his ankles. He kicked them off the rest of the way. "Of course," she said seriously. "I wouldn't expect anything other than the upmost professional behavior." She shoved the dress shirt off his shoulders before helping his pull his t-shirt off. She bit her lip as she looked him over, enjoying his muscular build that most people didn't realize he had underneath the suits he wore out in public.

Tony sighed, "Leave it to you to make me forget where I was going with this."

"While you're trying to remember what it was you forgot, how about I check you over for 'sweet spots.' After all, some of them might be in the same places and that's bound to be helpful in your, 'work,'" Nat smiled slyly at him.

"That's an excellent idea. I didn't bring anything to write with or on, though…"

Natasha smiled predatorily before she pushed him backward on the couch, "It's okay, I have an excellent memory. I've been undercover as an assistant or a secretary several times now. If some things are just a little too fuzzy, we'll just have to repeat the experiments. If you have the time, that is."

Tony nodded before bringing his lips up to meet hers as she tilted down to kiss him. He ran his hands over her, anywhere he could touch. He couldn't get enough of her. He wanted to kiss and touch everywhere at once and linger there and move on to the next spot.

"Nat, this shirt has to go. I usually like various clothes on my partner, but every time I see it I picture Steve."

Nat giggled teasingly, "That's cause it's Steve's pre-serum shirt." She leaned over and kissed him again, running her tongue over his lip and gently biting it. Then lightly sucked on it and kissed it better. Nat sat back and took the shirt off, her luscious breasts bouncing.

"My god those are amazing." Tony's hands naturally gravitated toward Nat's breasts. Nat chuckled. "What is it," he asked still lightly stroking and kneading them, occasionally running his thumbs over the nipples causing her breath to hitch. "Cause they are. They are perfect." He played with her breasts in between talking about and kissing them.

Nat reached her hand down and stroked Tony's sizable cock, "I don't know. This feels pretty perfect to me."

"If you don't stop we're going to have a mess here."

"I thought that was the idea."

Without warning Tony flipped her, grabbing her hips and straightened her out flat on the couch. He sat down beside her hips so he could still reach wherever he wanted. He roughly kissed her, his hands making their way down her body. He plunged his hand in her panties making his way to her clit, gently rubbing it at first and speeding up, then he slowed down. He dipped his finger into her hot waiting pussy, her hips jumped off the couch. She moaned even louder than before.

"More?" Tony asked.

"Yes," she gasped as he slid another finger in her and rubbed her clit with his thumb. He ran his tongue over her breast, gently licking it before pulling gently at her nipple. As he felt her walls begin to contract against his fingers, he sucked harder on her breast. She gushed over his hand.

"Holy shit, Tony," she said panting.

"I'm not done with you yet," he said as he licked her juices off his fingers.

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow, "What now," she said eagerly.

He moved between her legs and grabbed her hips, sliding her panties off. He rolled her body until her pussy was up to his mouth. She panted as he swiped his tongue across her clit. He kept changing pressure, from hard to soft to medium. He finally found exactly the right one that caused her to lose all control, she loudly called his name as she came all over his face. Tony grabbed his shirt from the floor to wipe his face off and began kissing up her body he finally got back to her lips and looked at her with adoration.

"Having a good time?" Nat asked. They wiggled until they were laying side by side.

Tony stared at her, "You have no idea." Nat raised an eyebrow. "Okay…" He smiled broadly at her, "So you might have some idea." He brushed some stray hairs that'd come loose from her ponytail behind her ear.

She reached up and kissed him, still tasting herself a little on his mouth. She changed places with him, moving him over to his back on the couch. Nat began playing with his nipples, which from his reaction were very sensitive. She smiled up at him as she suckled a nipple. She kissed down his stomach. She didn't go near the ARC Reactor. He was very protective of it and too many people wanted to take it from him in the past and she didn't want to associate a bad memory with a good one.

She took his cock in her hand and began doing a slight twist at the end of her jack. He shifted so he could watch her more easily. She smiled up at him and licked his dick from the tip to the base and back again. Tony arched his back up so he could watch her as she sucked him.

"You like that? Any room for improvement?" She asked so demurely he almost didn't hear what she'd said. She began swallowing him down, little by little. Tony strained not to move a muscle as she swallowed him whole and slowly made her way back up again.

Panting, Tony grabbed her by the hair and brought her mouth to his for a long kiss.

"Why do I feel like entire nations could fall just from the way you look at men with their cocks in your mouth?"

Tasha gave him a cryptic smile as she let him roll her backward onto the couch, "Because they have."

"And somehow that makes you all the more enticing." He licked her nipple and ran his fingers down to her pussy and pumped in and out a few times making sure she was wet enough for his cock.

She groaned, "That's because no one ever taught you not to play with fire."

"Yes, but when you don't get burned…"

She bit her lip and wrapped her legs around his waist, her ankles connecting, "I know what you mean."

He suddenly pinned her hands next to her head, staring into her eyes. Peering into them, he could see she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. He leaned down and bit where her neck met her shoulder, licking over it while his teeth were still against her skin. He positioned himself between her legs and slowly thrust into her, tilting her hips so he could thrust deeper. Within just a few thrusts her vision whited out.

"Fuck! You feel so good," he took one of his hands out from under her and pinched her nipple just hard enough to begin to make her climax again. "You like that, Natty?" He slowly moved in and out of her. She stared up at him, her pupils dilated, with the most beautiful wanton expression Tony had ever seen. She tightened her grip around his waist. "Fuck Nat," he gasped out. "You're so tight and wet. Perfect for my cock."

"Is that so?" She asked breathlessly before she reached up and ran her nails over his back.

"Fuck!"

Tony felt her body go limp against him. "You okay?"

She looked up into his eyes and smiled, "Never better."

"Pepper said it didn't take much for you to cum but wow."

Nat laughed, "As long as you know what you're doing, and you definitely seemed to before."

"Yeah, but most guys can get a girl off if they know how to fingerbang and eat pussy, not everyone knows how to actually fuck."

"That is a correct assessment, yes."

"Is it always that easy?"

"No, but most of the time. Angles and whatnot."

"How many more orgasms can you have?"

A big grin crossed her face, "I've never counted!

"Let's see what we can do about that."

He groaned into her ear as he increased the pace. He thrust harder and faster, their skin slapping together. He leaned down and sucked on Nat's neck next to one of the bigger bruises were, he felt the inside of her pussy clamp down on his dick yet again.

She groaned his name frantically in his ear, coming as her fingernails dug into his ass.

He couldn't wait any longer, he moaned and exploded inside her. Once he caught his breath, he slid to one side of her on the couch, cuddling up.

"Damn, Tony."

"What?" He brushed some hair off her shoulder that was sticking to her and kissed her there.

"I don't know if I should tell you. It might feed your ego too much." Nat and Tony chuckled.

"I don't know; I could say the same thing about you."

Nat looked over at him, "My ego is nowhere near the size of yours. Feed away."

"This is totally not what we planned when we found out we were going to be alone without the guys for the week. I thought we were just going to get to know each other better by talking while Pepper was gone."

A huge smile broke out across her face, "No, this was way, way better. Besides, she told me to go ahead if it came up."

Tony laughed, "She would. Greedy woman. Gets her cake and eats it, too." Tony grabbed the blanket that had somehow managed to stay on the arm of the oversized couch and covered them up. He nuzzled his nose against her neck breathing in the scent combination of her topped off and her shampoo.

"Tony. Earth to Tony." Sam waved his hand in front of Tony's face.

"Sorry, what were you saying," Tony asked.

Sam sighed looked down to his bowl of cereal. He looked back up after taking a bite and tilted his head to the left to be able to see into the kitchen better, "Ya know you could always just ask her."

"Ask her what," Steve sat down beside Sam, drinking down a good half of his bottle of water. He was still sweaty from the gym.

"Tony wants to know if Nat's wearing anything underneath that shirt," Sam smiled conspiratorially at Steve as he watched Steve turn his head to look at Natasha.

"I should go help her."

Sam grabbed his arm and looked at him, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No, he should definitely go ask her," Steve stated, eyebrow raised.

Natasha was standing on her tiptoes trying to reach the peanut butter which Tony intentionally put high up so he'd be able to watch her stretch for it. Even struggling, she made it look graceful.

Tony glanced over at Sam and nodded in agreement, "I like my manhood where it is, thank you very much." He looked back at her, "That shirt looks familiar, though. I've seen it before."

Pepper walked into the kitchen carrying the dishes from last night's bowls of ice cream. Nat and Pep had decided to eat and watch TV in bed. Both ended up falling asleep snuggled together under an hour in.

Nat had come in from a mission with a few bumps and bruises, and Pepper had been stuck with a potential business associate who didn't seem to understand that not everyone wanted or needed to do business with everyone else, and she was pretty close to letting Nat explain it to him.

As Pepper reached above Nat's head trapping her against the counter and grabbing the peanut butter, it suddenly hit Tony where he'd seen the shirt, "Holy shit! Those are my shirts! Both of them." They were both wearing button up dress shirts that Tony rarely wore. Pep and Nat had only buttoned the necessary buttons to not be considered too risqué. Pepper wore a dark green one that made her blue eyes pop, and Tasha wore a baby blue one that calmed her hair down a shade and falsely made her look easier to approach. Pepper sat the peanut butter on the counter next to Nat and kissed her on the neck. Nat grinned as she turned around in her arms, wrapping her hands loosely around Pepper's hips, her hands running over her ass. Pepper pushed her against the counter kissing her as she ran her fingers through her hair.

"Damn! Is Pepper usually that smooth," Clint asked plopping down next to Tony at the table.

"Honestly," Tony said, "Yes."

Sam looked at Tony and Clint, "What about Tasha?"

Clint harshly looked at Sam, "Are we talking about on the job or as a regular person?"

Sam suddenly had a 'deer in the headlights' look, "Um, both…?"

"She started seduction training when she was twelve. She's beautiful. If she puts her mind to it, she can get pretty well whomever she wants and she has."

"Wait, seduction training?" Sam asked.

"Yes. As much as it pains me to say it, she's excellent at it. I've watched her have marks so smitten within a few minutes, they willingly gave her the information she needed. It's helped save countless lives," Clint said with a grimace.

"Shouldn't that be a good thing," Sam asked.

Clint nodded toward Pepper and Nat. "See how they're being sexy and oh so very hot to watch?" Nat was nibbling on Pepper's ear, while Pep's hands were traveling north to Nat's breasts.

Tony swallowed, "Yeah."

"Take Pepper out of the equation and put in a fat disgusting human trafficker selling children." Sam and Tony both blanched. "Not so hot, anymore is it?"

"How does she do it," Steve asked.

"I just told you, training since she was twelve. I think the first time she had sex because she wanted to and not because she had to was after she joined SHIELD. When Phil was our handler, he made sure that she was given the option. Sometimes she could find out in hours the info we needed, sometimes it took months. Considering how hard it was for Phil and me, I can only imagine how it was on Nat, but she never said no. She always said the faster we got these scumbags off the Earth the better; said she had her childhood stolen and she didn't want that for other kids."

A few moments later the guys looked up and noticed Pepper had vanished. Nat suddenly appeared with rosy cheeks and the pot of coffee and cups, "Looks like you boys need refills," her accent slipped slightly. Clint smiled at her. She filled Clint's, Sam's and Tony's cups and poured Steve and herself a cup. She then deposited the pot on the island and she sat down in Tony's lap. Almost immediately Tony wrapped his arms around her so tightly she thought he wasn't ever going to let her go. She kissed him on the forehead, encircled her own arms around him and squeezed him back, "So what depressing information are we discussing this fine morning?"

"Where'd Pepper go," Tony asked.

"Phone call. I think I'm gonna have to kick that weirdo's ass. She's ours, not his." She smiled at Tony, trying to coax a smile from him.

Steve looked at Tasha, "Nat… I want to ask you something, but I'm not sure how to ask you without offending you," he said slowly

"Just ask. Tony will make it up to me later. I'll make him build me something cool, like a step stool so I can reach the peanut butter in the cabinet that's too high up for me to reach." She looked at Tony and poked him in the ribs, "Didn't think I knew what you were doing, did you?" Tony looked guiltily at his coffee cup.

Steve cleared his throat, "Um, the seduction stuff. How does that work? Doesn't it make you feel…?"

"Gross? Disgusted? Like a piece of meat," she filled in for him. She took a breath thinking carefully about the right words to say, "Steve, you have to understand that I wasn't brought up to think of sex the same way most people do. We were taught," she paused trying to think of the best way to explain it to him, "that my body isn't mine. It belongs to Mother Russia. We do what we have to without question. You follow the orders or you risk punishment or death. My body being mine is a relatively new concept." She tapped her finger against the side of her head. "Besides, if it helps me shut down some отвратительная сволочь,* then it's fine. No one should have to go through what we went through in the Red Room and with the KGB. If I can help one person not suffer, then it's worth it."

"Is that why they always sent you in first," Steve asked. "So, you could seduce the information out of them?

Clint spoke up, "Not necessarily. We usually had someone do the groundwork, the surveillance, make connections, you know stuff like that. After that, we'd come up with a good story, and Nat would meet up with them and get sucked into their world."

"I think I understand why you two work so well together now. You had to watch her through a scope most of the time. You had to figure out what was going on through body language and whatnot," Sam said.

"There's been plenty of times he's posed as my bodyguard, like in Kansas," Nat smirked at Clint.

Clint looked at her warningly and held his finger out in the air pointing at her, "Don't you even bring that shitstorm up."

Nat tilted her head and raised her hands in a defensive maneuver, "Fine, you get to be tortured for me by the cult next time."

"Whoa, what," Tony asked demandingly sounding slightly panicked. "How were you tortured? Are they dead? Tell me they're dead."

Nat caught Tony's head between her hands, "Tony, breathe. Of course, they're dead. That's how I helped Clint talk Laura into getting a nail gun. It came in very handy." Nat felt the tense shift in Tony's body. She ran her nails through his hair at the base of his skull, scratching his scalp lightly. She felt him relax slightly under her.

"And, what started this discussion anyway," Nat asked.

"Whether or not you were wearing anything under that shirt or not," Sam said.

"Who wondered it first?" she asked. The guys looked at Tony. She could feel Tony's half hard cock pushing into her hip. "That's what I thought."

"At the risk of sounding naïve, how is it that you get in with these guys anyway," Steve asked.

"Just like any other mission. You find out their weaknesses. Some guys like accents, some like anything that'll fuck them, some like breasts, some like redheads," Tony squeezed her thigh lightly. Nat turned to look at Tony, "Yeah, we know what you like," she smiled at him. "Then you figure out how to meet them, a charity event, bumping into each other on the street, whatever. From the info you've already gathered, you extrapolate what they desire. This guy likes redheads who can kick his ass, then show him that he's not necessarily Top Dog by playing hard to get."

"This is where techniques diverge, at this point Americans usually find a way to drug them, then set them up in a little black room. The problem is physical torture usually isn't the best way of getting information out of someone. After a little while, depending on their pain threshold, they'll tell you whatever it is they think they want you to hear. That leads to complications. I usually get a little closer and use my training to get them information, and the mark moves on never realizing he was the leak. Sometimes, I can go in and just befriend their bestie or wife or get a job on the inside, like a maid or a chef. You'd be surprised how much people will talk in front of the help. They tend to forget they're there. Sorry Babe," Nat kissed Tony lightly on the nose, "but you rich folk tend to forget about your peons."

Pepper stormed back into the kitchen and grabbed her a cup from the cabinet. She grabbed the coffee pot off the bar and poured herself a cup of coffee.

Nat hopped up out of Tony's lap to meet her at the bar. Nat put her knees in the padded bar seat and leaned over the counter showing Pepper more than a bit of cleavage and the guys she was indeed wearing a pair of boy shorts with spiders on them. She innocently looked up at her, "Do you want to invite him here and see what his deal is?"

Pepper's eyes sparkled, "What did you have in mind?"

*отвратительная сволочь - disgusting bastard


	2. Chapter 2: Nat Throws a Hissy

Chapter 2: Nat Throws a Hissy

Notes:

All my Russian is translated using Google Translate or a Russian to English Dictionary, so if something is incorrect, please let me know so I can fix it.

Thanks!

Chapter Text

A week later, Brad Tyler showed up to Stark Industries for an unusually bright and early meeting. He was met on the first floor by Happy, who was more than excited to send him through every possible security measure conceivable to ensure he had the correct lanyard so Brad didn't go into any areas of SI he wasn't welcome in. They finally made it to Pepper's office an hour and a half later. It was still a bit early to have a meeting, as it was only a little after eight in the morning. She was already in a 'meeting' with Tony and Nat on Avengers business. Nat was wearing a red dress that the top was cut just low enough to make sure she got Brad's attention and short enough to ensure she kept it. Tony was sitting on the couch looking at numbers on a StarkPad. Nat had gotten up and was making them all a fresh pot of coffee. She sat Tony's cup on the coffee table in front of him since he was mumbling about some design flaw. She handed Pepper hers as Brad and Happy walked through the door. Happy handled the introductions.

"Would you like some coffee, Mr. Tyler? Happy?" Natasha asked.

"Yes, please. Two sugars," he replied.

"I'm sorry, Natasha, I didn't see you standing there," Happy said.

"It's okay. It's not the first time I've been invisible," Natasha smiled. Pepper knew this smile. It was the same one that Nat used when she was luring in a mark but not being obvious about it, not that she ever was. Pepper had only been able to witness Nat do it a few times, but it turned her on so much. As soon as she got home she was going to get Tasha out of that dress and tie her to the bed… Pepper had to clear her thoughts before Nat caught her… too late. Nat had turned and locked eyes with Pepper's. She knew what Pepper was thinking about, and it still didn't stop her from giving Pep the 'come fuck me' eyes.

Pepper wasn't above using Nat's talents for SI on occasion. She used her with board members who were being a pain in her ass and with companies that thought they were going to get away with running her over. Pepper found that Natasha had means of finding out the most interesting of information about people they didn't want to be made public, and Pepper wasn't above blackmail when it involved the person doing illicit activities that skirted corporate law. She mostly loved to use Nat's talents whenever she did something that made Tony stop talking and thinking. It was one of the many things Pepper loved about her. It was like she had a special sense for when another person couldn't quiet their thoughts and since Tony rarely could…

Nat came back with Happy and Brad's coffees.

"You didn't get one for yourself, Miss Romanoff," Brad said.

Nat shrugged, "We ran out of cups."

"It's quite all right, Mr. Tyler. She can share with me," Pepper spoke up. Nat sat on the arm of Pepper's chair. Pep handed her the coffee cup which Nat took a drink of. Pepper wrapped an arm around Nat's hips as Brad took in the sight.

Nat's phone rang. Nat reached across the table for her phone, giving Brad a Helluva view of her cleavage. She grabbed a donut hole and popped it in her mouth on the way back up to sitting, catching him looking. She smiled at him.

"So what business are you in, Brad," Tony asked as Nat leaned over, even Tony looked and it was a view he got most every night.

"I hate to cut this short, but we have to go be heroes," Natasha said turning more serious, "our pickup is on the way."

"Well, it's been a pleasure." Tony shook his hand. "Perhaps we'll see you again before you leave," Tony said.

"Yes, perhaps we can go to dinner one night," Brad smiled as he shook his hand. "I have a proposition for you that I think you'll find mutually beneficial to _both_ of our companies.

Tony walked over to Pepper and Nat who were discussing dinner. "Are you gonna be home when I get there?"

"Hopefully, we will be. This is most likely just the planning part. We got a hit on some leads I was looking into." Nat smiled, "How about we invite Mr. Tyler here for dinner since we interrupted your meeting, hopefully, we'll be ready to have a break by then." Nat leaned over and looked in Pepper's eyes, "I'll even cook. Whatever you want. I'll make Tony sous, and, if he's being too slow, I'll get Clint."

"What do you say, Mr. Tyler? A late dinner tonight at the tower? I can confirm that Nat can indeed cook," Tony asked smiling.

"That sounds lovely," Brad replied. "Almost as lovely as you two ladies." Nat and Pepper both put on their fake smiles.

"Let me walk them out," Pepper said to Brad.

As they made it to the door, Tony reached for Pepper's hand and drew it to his mouth, "Something's up. I don't like him."

Natasha looked at Tony and patted him on the cheek, "You know we only keep you for your looks."

Tony looked aghast, "And here I thought it was 'cause I was dynamite in the sack."

Nat and Pepper smiled. "It does help," they said simultaneously.

"As much as I hate to admit it, though, this guy does have some products that we probably would like to get our hands on," Pepper said looking at Tony. "You get to break the news at dinner that the only equipment the Avengers use is made in-house, though. He's really trying the hard sell on that. Seems to think he has some toys you guys would really love."

"Yeah, um. No. We have a team of paranoids, and I'm not even going to start at the top with me followed by Nat." Nat raised an eyebrow, "You're absolutely right, we're probably tied. Send me the info, and I'll take a look through it as soon as I can. Just make sure he doesn't try to get his hands on you," Tony said pointedly. Pep kissed Tony who grabbed her around the waist.

Then she grabbed Nat and kissed her a bit more roughly than she had Tony. "If he tries, I can always show him some of the moves Nat's taught me over the years." She gently ran one of her hands through Nat's hair.

"Do you two know how much you turn me on?" Tony asked as he stepped closer and put his arms around the two women.

"Be a good boy and I'll let you unwrap one of your presents early," Nat raised her eyebrow at Tony.

She slightly shifted against Tony making sure his cock rubbed against her hip in just the way he liked it, "Oh, that is not playing fair," he said having difficulty suppressing a moan. He ran one of his hands up to her hip.

"Have you ever known me to play fair?" Natasha asked. Both their phones beeped.

"I guess that means we're wanted elsewhere," Tony sighed.

"Sir," FRIDAY said, "Captain Rogers says to tell you the rest of the Avengers are in the jet waiting on the roof."

"Of course, they are."

"See you at dinner," Pepper said. "Be safe."

"Do our best," and with that, Tony and Nat were out the door.

Pepper came back to her chair beside the couch beaming. Happy had her coffee refilled. She grinned up at him.

"Wow, Miss Potts, two Avengers," Brad asked. "They must keep you very busy."

Pepper smiled placatingly, "I love Tony, but he can be a handful at times. Natasha helps to keep him out of trouble. They watch out for each other on the battlefield, and she helps me to keep him grounded."

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you get out of her presence," Brad asked.

Pepper felt her hackles raise. This wasn't the first time she was asked about her relationship with her _two_ lovers, especially her relationship with Natasha, and it surely wasn't going to be the last. "Aside from Tony and my loving her? She keeps me grounded, as well. As you probably already know she was a SHIELD agent. She was undercover here several years back and helped save his life. She became invaluable in a short time. After her mission was over, I tried to get her to stay on. She even taught me a few things about handling Tony. Ironically, he's one of the only people I've ever seen her be frustrated with to the point where you could actually tell. She's usually a very calm person, scarily so at times. I guess that's what happens when you're raised to be a weapon by the Russian government." Pepper supposed. "I get to see another side of her completely, though. You just caught a glimpse of it earlier. The only reason you got to see more that just a quick hug and kiss was because they were heading out on a mission. Tasha doesn't just do that in front of anybody. It's just in case they don't make it back."

"That seems horrible, the waiting, the not knowing."

"That sounds a bit ominous the way you say it. FRIDAY keeps me up to date. She'll let me know what's going on." Pepper paused while she drank her coffee. "So, what is it I can help you with, Mr. Tyler? I have another meeting in forty-five minutes. I hope to be home before the team does so that, if they need anything, I can make sure they get it."

"Do you do that often?"

"They're my family. _You_ are there for your family."

"Tony, if you don't stop moving, I'm going to make Cap sit on you while I let Dum-E give you your stitches," Clint said annoyed.

Pepper rounded the corner into the kitchen followed by Brad, "Tony, what did you do to get stitches?"

"I cut my finger on a knife. It was completely my fault. I should have known I couldn't cut vegetables like the assassins," Tony said.

Pepper sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Here's that cream we use. Rub it in, butterfly it, and put a Band-Aid over it so it won't be exposed. It should heal fairly quickly. Especially quick if you want to go sit in the cradle for five minutes." Nat's hair was wet and hanging down in her face. She handed the cream over to Clint to doctor Tony. "Hey, Beautiful, you made it home I see."

Pepper gave Tony a quick kiss and a long hug before walking over to Natasha and moving her hair which had fallen in her face. "Jesus! What happened?" She had a knot on her forehead with bruising on and around it in a rainbow of colours along with the normal battle bruises.

"I'm fine. Let me finish this." Nat smiled and gave her a kiss.

Steve stepped forward, "Um... that was my fault."

"You hear that Pep? Captain America is beating up our girlfriend," Tony chimed in. Clint gave him a dirty look.

Pepper sighed, "What happened, Steve?"

"Pep, don't listen to them. It was nothing, Steve threw a HYDRA guy into a metal stairwell and it knocked a tool off the catwalk and it fell and hit me in the head. I've had worse injuries from walking into Tony's lab. Steve just wanted to make sure it wasn't a big thing and of course, now, I'm behind in dinner, which is now why we're having something much simpler." Nat shook her head.

"Phil's bringing Dr. Simmons to make sure her head is as okay as she claims it to be," Steve spoke up, still embarrassed for hurting her.

Clint snorted, "Phil heard Nat was cooking Hobbit Stew and decided he'd come visit."

Nat closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, "Steven Grant Rogers, stop yenta-ing. What do you think is wrong with me?"

"I just want to make sure my teammate doesn't have a concussion or something worse."

"Steve…" Nat closed her eyes and counted to ten in Russian, quietly but aloud.

Clint chuckled as he reached into a kitchen drawer and grabbed a flashlight. He tucked Nat's hair gently out of her face and behind her ear revealing a black eye and a bruise on her jaw, along with signs she'd been choked both with someone's hands and a rope. He turned the flashlight on and checked her for a concussion.

Clint snorted and carried the conversation on in Russian, " _So, I take it you've known the whole time you've had a concussion?"_

" _Of course, I did. Steve is gonna mama me to death if I tell him now. Besides how many have I had just by being your partner at SHIELD? Working through a mild concussion is nothing compared to some of the shit we've been through._ _This_ _is a cakewalk."_

" _Good point."_ He shook his head. _"We're gonna have to work on Tony's knife skills. Not everyone has our talents,"_ he said grinning.

" _How about you help me get these people out of the kitchen, so we can get a meal started properly. I'm getting hungry, and you know that's not a good thing."_

Clint laughed, _"Okay. Make Steve your errand bitch since he feels bad and needs to make it up to you anyway."_

" _I was just gonna kick his ass in the ring tomorrow."_

" _There's the spirit,"_ Clint said laughing

"Okay," Clint said switching back to English, "if you people want to get fed, get the hell out of the kitchen. Nat's fine. I'm going to be her sous chef, and I'll keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't use sugar instead of salt or something like that. Cap, you're on bitch duty. That means you do errands take out the trash, stir food, general cleanup, ya know, that sorta thing. Tony, this will give you time to talk to Brad about any questions you may have about his products, how they're made, that sorta thing. Just as long as you're outta the way."

Cap nodded in agreement, "Whatever you need."

As Clint talked, Nat pulled out a few more vegetables and began chopping them up at a ridiculously high and scarily accurate speed somehow cutting the vegetables into same-sized cubes and looking absolutely bored while doing so. She poured them into a pot of soup that the chicken was cooking in, which she'd started when she'd first gotten home. She prepared cornbread as well; it was warming in one of the ovens. Clint chopped up fruits, vegetables, cheese, and other ingredients someone might want for a salad and set them aside. Before long, everything was ready. Steve set the table and told everyone it was time to eat. Clint and Nat had their plates fixed and were at the table eating across from each other before most of the crew had milled around to get their food.

"Phil and Doctor Simmons have arrived and are on their way up," FRIDAY's ethereal voice stated.

"Amazing timing," Clint murmured to Nat who gave one of her patented half smiles.

"Thank you, FRIDAY," Pepper said. "Direct them here, please." Pepper looked at Brad, "We don't stand on ceremony here. There's the kitchen, get what you want to eat. As you can see we do it kind of buffet style, pick a place on the bench to sit and enjoy."

Phil Coulson and Jemma Simmons fell into the line as if they had been present the whole time. Tony kept Brad talking so Pepper could go sit next to Nat. Phil then Jemma sat to Clint's left.

"Tony, I fixed you a bowl already. Come and eat. Water glasses and cornbread are already on the table. If you want a soda or something else, check the fridge. Bowls and spoons are by the pot of soup. Sorry, Brad. He'll just keep talking if you don't stop him." Pepper had already placed it on her other side, blocking herself in between her two lovers.

"But isn't it fun to stop me," Tony asked as he passed Nat moving her hair out of the way and kissing her on the neck where the bruises weren't so bad.

Nat pursed her lips and shook her head, "You know, sometimes even when you're being incorrigible, you're still cute."

Pepper sighed, "It's annoying, isn't it?" Nat sighed and nodded.

Tony leaned over to kiss Pep in the same place on her neck, "Isn't that why you love me?"

"Maybe one of the reasons," Pepper answered.

Nat looked at him mischievously, "I'm just here for your tech." She scrunched her nose up to him as he leaned over to give her a proper kiss, both giggling the entire time. Nat turned Black Widow serious, "In reality, though, I'm just here for Pepper."

"That is creepy how you do that," Jemma said.

Clint turned to look at Jemma, "You don't know a quarter of it."

Nat twisted on the bench to get up for seconds.

"Stay there, Natty. I'll get you another bowl," Tony smiled. "I'm still up."

Phil locked eyes with Nat, "Natty? Now, I know you have a concussion. And I knew that from the moment I sat down at the table."

"He's finally over me going undercover at SI and stabbing him with a needle, so," Nat shrugged.

"Here ya go, Gorgeous," Tony slid the hair back on the other side of her neck and kissed her behind her ear. "Anyone else need anything while I'm up?" Pepper handed him her wine glass.

He grabbed the bottle off the bar and refilled. "Anyone else?"

"Sit down and eat, Tony. You're making me even more tired," Nat yawned, "Besides we still have a debriefing to go through." Tony finally sat down. Pepper leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Steve got up next, "Anyone need anything?" He brought back a pitcher of water and refilled Nat's glass without her asking. He realized what it might look like so he did Pepper's and Tony's, too. "Anyone else?" Phil held his glass out. Brad followed suit.

"So, Mr. Tyler, what is it that you do," asked Jemma.

"Brad, please. Frankly, I'm hoping to get in bed with Stark Industries, but in a nutshell, we make environmentally friendly products."

"We interrupted his meeting this morning when we were at SI on Avengers business, so we thought that, perhaps, Pepper could do business while we debrief and do our checkups, though it looks as if Nat got the short end of the stick today," Tony said.

"Боже мой," Nat said under her breath. "I think we are going to need to have a lesson in what the word 'bait' means. It's not like I couldn't have handled it. You just jumped the gun. I am perfectly capable of handling a situation like that. I've been doing these kinds of missions since I was ten. I've been in them hundreds of times, and I'm not just talking about with SHIELD. I didn't call for extraction. I didn't _need_ extraction. I needed more time to get the information. I'm not even that hurt. I still have all my teeth, my fingernails, and I haven't even been stabbed or shot. I'm fine. I have bruises. ад, I get worse than that sparring with one of you. Now, next time we do this, please, let me do _my_ job. I happen to be very good at it. I don't need each of you acting like I'm going to break from a shitty punch that some bad guy _thinks_ he can throw. Next time, listen to Clint. At least he knows when I'm actually in trouble. It's called acting people, I am not a porcelain doll, stop treating me like one!" She grabbed her dishes and took them to the sink. She then rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher. She walked by the table on her way to the elevator, "Phil, I'll be in my room when you're ready to debrief."

The table sat there in stunned silence until Nat got on the elevator and went to her floor. Pepper looked around at each Avenger sitting at the table. She sighed, "Who would like to explain what that was about?"

Clint was the only one who didn't look guilty. He caught Pepper's eyes, "In the Red Room one of the tactics they taught their assets to obtain information was letting your captors beat on you or whatever it took to complete your mission. The most important part was completing the mission. It didn't matter if you made it back as long as the mission was done. Ironically, SHIELD let Nat continue using this method of reverse interrogation because it got results. _We_ ," Clint pointed, swinging his finger back and forth indicating he and Phil, "didn't like it, but since she was trained that way…" Clint shrugged. "She gives outdated information or plain out wrong information, sometimes she even tells them the truth. Then they'll tell her the truth, which is what she wants to know because they think she'll never escape, but she does because she's that good. I had eyes and ears on her. I knew she was okay, but the other guys jumped the gun to go save her."

"Honestly, I think she did a really good job keeping her temper in check for as long as she did. It's not like this is the first time they've done this to her. Some of us need to remember that she is an Avenger and playing a damsel in distress, not the other way around." Clint stopped and waved his spoon around at the rest of the table, "I strongly suggest all of you beware the next time you spar with her; she may put you in a full body cast."

Phil looked around the group and sighed, "I would have thought all of you would have learned not to underestimate her by now. Instead, you're making her prove herself all over again. If you're not going to appreciate her, I can take her back with me. Between her and May, I'd have an unstoppable force. You need to figure out what's more important, her not getting a punch to the face, which she takes better than you do, Tony, or fighting the evil that's in this world." Phil stood up and took his dishes to the sink, rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher. "I also strongly suggest you figure out how to apologize to her. And Cap, I can't believe you, after Peggy. Same for you Tony after being with Pepper and Nat. Why haven't you figured this out? Her best friend's right there! Listen to him!" Phil pointed to Clint. "He's not there just to look pretty." Phil sighed. "I'm going to debrief the Black Widow, try not to do anything stupid while I'm away."

The team shifted in their seats when he turned his back and headed toward the elevator. They turned to look at Clint. "Tech, jewelry, weapons, flowers in no particular order," Clint responded. "Oh, and an, 'I'm sorry I was an idiot.' That's part's important."

Pepper stood up. "Did you guys seriously try to treat an ex-Russian, ex-KGB, ex-SHIELD agent, Avenger, as you would a cheap glass tchotchke?" Her eyes wandered over the boys. Their looks told her everything. "Each of you better come up with some way to repair it. I can't believe I'm having to give you this speech. I've seen her kick every one of your asses; you should be ashamed." She sighed, "Just fix it, please. Brad, if you're finished, we can go to my office and talk some more about your proposal."

Once they reached Pepper's office, Brad asked, "I don't mean to be too forward, but is dinner always like that?"

"Not usually. On occasion, someone's feathers are ruffled, but for the last few missions, Tasha's told me the guys have gotten a little overprotective. She and Steve had a mission go awry a few months back. Now, their attitudes have begun to get to her. I guess she just reached her breaking point." She pulled up his proposal and threw it up to look at it while it floated in the air. They were soon talking about the merits of certain aspects of using his company.

Боже мой - Oh my God!

ад - Hell

~*~

An hour later, Jemma brought Pepper and Brad each a piece of chocolate cake that Nat had prepared the day before along with two cups of fresh coffee.

Pepper smiled tiredly at Jemma, "You didn't have to do this."

Jemma smiled, "Natasha asked if I would and to please apologize for her losing her temper at dinner earlier. Though I do understand where she's coming from, even though I'm in a different field."

"How is she, really," Pepper asked.

"She's fine," Jemma reassured her. "She has some bruises and a mild concussion, but just to be safe, we put her in the cradle. She was out in fifteen minutes. She has an amazing metabolism and immune system, which was probably why she was chosen for the Red Room project. I'm sorry, I'm rambling." Jemma blushed, "But seriously, she's fine. I think she had her feelings hurt more than anything. I don't think the guys are used to having to sit there and watch their friend get tortured. In this case, I use the term loosely because the only reason she had a concussion was due to a wrench falling on her head ten feet above her, and the only reason that happened was that it clipped her while she was fighting a HYDRA agent. Since the guys jumped the gun, she'd already gotten free and taken her interrogators out. She was moving on to the evac point."

"Wow," Brad said, "A wrench? That sounds like it hurt."

"We have the video from the warehouse if you want to check it out. FRIDAY has put the cuts together so we can see the flow of what transpired with the fight."

Brad spoke up, "I would if you wouldn't mind." He looked like a child at Christmas.

Pepper looked at Jemma, who nodded. "Okay, FRIDAY, please bring up the footage." The security camera footage appeared which was cut together with the cameras on Tony's suit and a few of the flying cameras they were trying out to see if they could learn more about their enemy's movements. It began about thirty seconds into the fight of Steve knocking the man he was fighting into the toolbox which turned over, the tools clanged on a few steps the wrench still tumbling before landing on Nat's head and bouncing. She caught it and used it to hit the agent she was fighting with before knocking him across the jaw with it. Nat scrunched her nose and rubbed her head. She rolled her neck and walked to the next fight.

"Damn," Pepper said. "It's not like I haven't seen her in action before. I always forget how relentless she is."

"Didn't she say she's been doing it since she was ten?" Brad asked.

"Yes and no. She's been going on missions since she was ten. She's been training since she was four. Her parents were killed when their apartment building caught fire. Her mother threw her to a soldier, and he acted like a father figure for a while. He was a part of the Red Room. Since she told me this, I wondered if he set the fire on purpose." Pepper looked at Jemma, "So you're sure she's fine."

"Well, Captain Rogers stopped by earlier when we were in medical and Phil told him if he knew what was good for him, he'd leave her alone at least until she came out of her room willingly."

Pepper laughed, "Yeah, sounds like she's mad."

Jemma smiled, "I think there are hornets' nests that have been poked with a stick that are less irate. She said to tell you that you were more than welcome to join her tonight if you weren't going to treat her like glass."

Pepper cleared her throat and smiled broadly, "Well, Mr. Tyler, I'm interested in what you're proposing. I want to have my people look further into it, and we can go from there. Does that sound fair?"

"More than," he smiled and held out his hand to shake hers. Pepper escorted him to the elevator and made her way to the penthouse she, Nat, and Tony shared.

Chapter Management


	3. Chapter 3: Apologies Can be Fun

Chapter 3: Apologies Can be Fun

Chapter Text

The door opened automatically for her. "Nat," she called. She walked further in the room. "Tasha?"

Nat came in the door behind her with a bowl of soup. Pepper raised an eyebrow, "I was hungry. I had to throw my hissy fit before I could really eat anything."

Pepper smiled, "In case you really wanted to know, you throw an amazing hissy fit."

Nat put her bowl on the coffee table by her glass of water and sat down, "It's a talent."

Pepper laughed, "Of course it is. I'm going to go shower. I'll be back in a few." She leaned over and lightly kissed Nat on her no longer swollen and bruised forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

After hearing the water run for a few minutes Nat decided she'd join Pepper. Nat stripped along her way to the bathroom. She watched the strawberry blonde for a few seconds before climbing in behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist and squeezing Pepper's back against her voluptuous breasts.

"I thought you said you were going to eat," Pepper said smiling. Nat turned Pepper around in her arms so they were facing each other. She kissed down her body, licking and sucking as she went.

"I didn't say what..." Nat smiled as she backed Pepper toward the shower wall and into the shower seat. Pepper got the hint and sat down. Natasha sank to her knees on the floor. Pepper bit her lip as Nat spread her legs roughly. She let out a gasp. Nat alternated biting and kissing up her thighs until she got to her folds, sliding a finger in her before gently pumping it in and out. Pepper cried out in pleasure.

Nat stared up at her with want, "Was there something in particular you wanted?" Nat nipped at her thigh. Pepper spread her legs even further.

"Oh Fuck, Nat," Pepper groaned. "More! Please, more!" She slid her ass to the edge of the shower seat and reached for Nat. Nat added two more fingers and ran her tongue over her clit before she began sucking on it. Pepper leaned her head back and rocked her hips in the same rhythm Nat was finger fucking her. Pepper grabbed her own breasts and kneaded them and pinched her nipples. Nat suckled Pepper's clitoris, rubbing her tongue back and forth over it before taking her clit gently between her teeth and lightly nipped it, sending Pepper with a cry over the edge.

"Do you two have any idea how god damned sexy you two are," Tony asked standing in the doorway. He had his dick in his hand, and he had been jerking off while watching the show.

"Why don't you get over here and show us," Nat asked.

He shed the rest of his clothes and walked into the massive shower. He kissed Pepper briefly while he reached down and manhandled Nat, putting her in the position he wanted her in. Tony moved onto his knees behind her and leaned Nat over so she still had access to Pepper's pussy. Nat looked sexily up at Pepper as she dove her tongue back messily into Pepper. Pepper's breath stuttered for a moment, _that look could destroy worlds and people wouldn't even care._

Tony rubbed his fingers across Nat's clit causing her to cry out. He easily slid two fingers in and out making sure she was wet enough for what he had in mind. He grabbed her hair and tugged her head back so he could kiss her, tasting Pepper on her mouth, all while thrusting his fingers in her hard and fast. Pepper crawled down to the floor so she could touch Nat more easily. She massaged her breasts and pinched Nat's nipples while brusquely kissing her as Tony lined up his dick to fuck Natasha. Pepper rubbed her clit while she watched Tony fuck her girlfriend. They were so hot together. It didn't take long for Nat to cum after being wound up from getting Pepper off. Tony and Pepper caught eyes and they both marked her on her shoulder side by side as they both came as well. Tony wrapped his arm around Nat's waist and they both slid off their knees and more comfortably to the floor. All three leaned their backs against the cool tile as they recovered.

"What made you come join us," Pepper asked when they had all caught their breaths.

"Honestly, you were just so beautiful at dinner that I just wanted to come congratulate you. And fuck your brains out," Tony said smiling. After they toweled off, Pepper began the difficult task of brushing out the tangles caused by their fun in the shower. Tony took this opportunity to sneak Nat out of the bathroom door. He pushed her against the wall and encircled her waist with his hands, "Does this mean you've forgiven me for being an ass even if there's a reason for it," his brown eyes searched hers.

"Tony, I love you. I may get angry at you sometimes, but I still love you. Just stop being so overbearing. It drives me nuts. I was meant to fight. I was made to be a weapon. It's my job. I happen to like my job. You retired from being the 'Merchant of Death.' I'm not ready to retire from being the Black Widow." She ran her fingers through his wet hair. "I'm not proud of everything I've done, but I've done some things that strike fear in the hearts of people, especially now, since I joined SHIELD and became an Avenger. I scare bad people. I like that about myself. It's who I am. Do you understand?"

Tony looked puzzled for a moment and then nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I think I do." He reached up and stroked her face with his knuckles, "Hey Red, I love you. I don't know how I ended up with two gingers in my life. I'm sure that's crazy as Hell, and I have a death wish, but I don't know what I would do without you, without either of you."

"Easy, you'd starve to death." Nat gave him a chaste kiss before she walked away from the bathroom and into the walk-in closet, committing the terrible sin of putting on clothes. She left him smiling until he realized when he went to open the bathroom door that he hadn't closed it all the way. He looked at Pepper who had an eyebrow raised. "I take it you heard that?"

"Every word."

"Clint and I told you all you had to do was apologize. You haven't been on the same missions with her as Steve and Clint. As much as they hate it, Nat can stand up to some pretty intense stuff, and she's walked away. She took a backhand from the Hulk, Tony. She's not going to break as easily as you guys think she will. You just need to listen to her."

Tony sat on the edge of the jacuzzi tub next to Pepper and put his head in her lap, "It's hard not to step in when you hear her crying over comms."

"What you do every day is hard, but you accepted the call to be an Avenger, you all did, and you all have to live with that, come what may."

"We're an entire tower of PTSD sufferers. What does that say about us," Tony asked.

"That you're very brave doing what you do and the world should be thankful to have you. I know I am," Pepper placed a finger under Tony's chin and raised his lips to hers.

"None of us would be alive if it weren't for you."

The next day Nat called Pepper at the office to ask her if she wanted to join her for a picnic at the park that she already had set up. She told her she had a bottle of wine with their names on it. Pepper had Brad in her office with her working on some paperwork. Nat told her to grab the extra bottle out of the cabinet and bring him along. Instead of the romantic picnic they were gonna have, he could listen to her bitch about the guys.

"So, what were you going to do if I wasn't going to be able to make it," Pep asked as she took off her shoes and sat on the blanket next to Nat.

"If you weren't coming, I was going to invite the homeless guy over there to eat with me—his name's Lavernius, by the way. He saw some action when he was in the military in Chorus." Nat passed disposable plates, flatware, and cups out.

"Yeesh." Brad said, "That was not a pretty little war." They began fixing their plates.

"It wasn't, but at least they pulled it together and worked it out in the end," Pepper said.

"Steve and Sam are trying to help him through the Veterans' Affairs office. I usually bring him something when I come down here. I brought him a plate today. Steve offered him his apartment since he really isn't using it, but he said he doesn't feel comfortable inside anymore but he goes to shower there and when the weather's really bad."

"Aren't you supposed to be The Black Widow, all mean and evil," Brad asked with a smile on his face.

"That's just when I'm working," Nat said smirking.

Pepper looked up from her plate, "Please, don't make her start working. It's hard enough for her to turn it off as is."

"Pep, sweetie, I don't turn it off. I just don't make it obvious."

Pepper sighed then she turned and looked behind Nat. "How many people?"

"Three rollerblading, two roller- _skating_ , a family of four flying kites," she paused, "A UCLA student walking her dog, an older couple feeding the ducks. Then Lavernius, of course."

"How do you know that," Brad asked.

Nat smirked. "That's not even that impressive. Wait for Clint to get here."

"How do you know he's coming," Brad asked.

She shrugged, "He's my bestie. He's also the only one that didn't piss me off." Sure enough, Clint took his time about it, but he showed up a few minutes later his dog in tow. "Clint, tell Lucky to stay." Clint did. They both stepped about ten feet from the blanket and did a quick fight move putting Clint in a headlock with Nat's hands over his eyes. "How many squirrels?" Nat looked around counting them, coming up with seventeen.

"Eighteen."

Nat's brow furrowed, "Where's the eighteenth?" He nodded to the trashcan. "That doesn't count."

"You didn't say they had to be real nut-eating wiggling squirrels. You just asked about numbers." She unlocked her legs from around his waist. They brushed each other off before they sat on the blanket. Lucky came to sit beside Clint.

Clint reached over and stole food off her plate. "Clint, you're an ass."

"Brat."

"Do they act like this often?" Brad asked.

"Like they're children? They're basically siblings."

"We were partners. We're just kind of attached at the hip."

"I kind of know about Natasha's past, what about you?"

"Actually, my brother and I grew up in the circus, which is where I learned how to shoot a bow. As soon as I got old enough, I enlisted in the army and became a sniper. Then I joined SHIELD. Nat was working for the wrong side, and I talked her into joining the right team, which still ended up being the wrong team," Clint shrugged. "I think we have it right now, though." He put his arm around her and hugged her. Pepper grabbed her from the other side and hugged her, too. Clint kissed her on one cheek and Pepper on the other. Brad took a pic of Nat smiling but grimacing at the same time. Tony framed it and put it on the wall.

Chapter Management


	4. Chapter 4: Sometimes You Gotta Teach

Chapter 4: Sometimes You Gotta Teach a Cap New Tricks

Chapter Text

A few days later, Brad and Pepper walked into the gym while Steve, Sam, Nat, and Clint were training. Nat and Clint were trying to teach Steve and Sam a move that they just weren't getting. Clint and Nat had learned as children and teaching it to adults was a bit awkward, but, when done correctly, you could take someone down in a matter of moments when fighting. It was more of an acrobatic style and, if performed in a stage atmosphere when your partner was in on it, it looked amazing. This was one of the reasons they both knew it. They perfected the fighting side of it together.

"Cap, I don't understand. You usually pick up things so quickly, and, Sam, you're not much slower; what's the deal?" Nat ran her fingers through her long hair.

Sam took a deep breath, "I'm not trying to diss you and a fellow bird, but I don't see how this can be used in a fight."

Nat looked at Sam, "Okay." She turned to look at Cap, "You feel the same way?" Steve nodded.

"Alright, give me five. My hair band broke and the last thing we need is for you not to be able to see what we're trying to teach you. Could you guys spread more mats out on the floor? You know how Clint and I move around more when we spar. That might be part of the problem."

Nat walked over to Pepper who was already taking her hair down, Nat smiled brightly at her, "I love you. You should _never_ disbelieve that."

"I love you, too." Pepper gently grabbed Nat by the back of her neck and tilted her head up so she could claim her lips. When they broke apart, Pepper smiled and looked into Nat's emerald green eyes, "Go kick his ass."

Nat winked, "Of course. Where's Tony?"

"He said he had something he couldn't leave in the lab just yet, but he was joining us for dinner."

"Yes, he is. If I have to send Steve to drag him out of the lab, he will not like it. He especially will not like it if I go," Nat stated. She walked back over to Clint and they did a few extra stretches using each other as a counterbalance.

"You really don't realize how strong she is until you see her working out with the other guys," Tony said admiringly, as he slipped into the training room. "You don't really have a chance to appreciate it in the middle of the fight, but the things that she does are like a dance."

"What do you mean," Brad asked.

"You'll just have to watch. Here let's go sit up here. We should be fairly safe." Tony led them out a door to an upstairs boxed-in room that had the windows tinted. He had FRIDAY untint them. There were viewing screens and chairs. "This is for when they use weapons in practice so whoever needs to observe can safely."

"I thought he was joking when he said he grew up in the circus, but some of the warm-up moves they're doing together are moves you see from circus performers," Brad added.

"Keep in mind that Nat was a ballerina, too. Best undercover op for a Russian," Pepper smiled sadly. "She really is a beautiful dancer if you can catch her doing it."

"The only time I've caught her is when she can't sleep in the middle of the night, usually after a rough mission," Tony said. "But you're right, I know nothing about professional dancing. I mean, I've gone to ballets when I had to with my parents and hated it. But watching her, I don't know, it's different. She's beautiful to watch."

"I've tickets to the ballet tomorrow night. My date fell through, would it be imposing if I asked her if she'd like to go, you think? Would it bother either of you," Brad asked?

"I'll feel her out if you'd like when the sparring is over, but I don't mind. I'm in meetings all day and I have to fly to another two SI offices over the next few days. Tony did you have anything planned," Pepper asked.

"No, I was going to finish the new thrusters on the suit. Other than that, I was going to see if I could talk Nat into not getting out of bed while you were gone, Pepper," Tony smiled.

Pepper laughed at him, "You know that's never happening."

"Yeah, I know she can't be still for much longer than a movie or two. I can dream, though."

"You can dream while she's out running with Sam and Steve."

Tony smiled, "She'll shower and climb back into bed with me. We have an agreement."

"You two are adorable," Natasha's voice sprang from the control room's speakers, her voice automatically routed over the tower's comm system. Tony glanced down now only noticing the warm glowing light on the panel below him indication open communications.

"Make room for Sam and Steve. Could you retract the ring and record this from a bunch of different angles?" Natasha continued.

"Yep," Tony pressed the button. "How long is this fight going on for?"

"I don't know. This is Clint and me. It's not like we don't have stamina. After, Steve and Sam get to fight, and then there's a winners fight and a losers fight. It's training Tony. Tomorrow, it's me and you."

"But I don't like fighting with you." Tony quipped, meeting Nat's eyes through the glass.

"But you like making up," Nat raised an eyebrow and gave him a half-smile.

"Go show him who's boss."

Nat smiled. "Of course."

After an almost twenty-minute fight, Clint finally called 'Uncle' when he gave her enough space to get her thighs around his neck.

Nat leaned over and whispered in his ear, "What's Laura gonna say about that lack of stamina?"

"Natalia Alianova Romanova! I'm gonna kick your ass," he screeched through gritted teeth.

"Not today." She smiled devilishly at him while he half-heartedly tried to smack any piece of her he could reach. She caught his hands every time.

Steve and Sam fought. Both tried and failed to use the technique, but the important step was they tried.

"Shit." Nat breathed outward as Sam tapped out. It was no surprise that Steve won. It also wasn't a surprise that Nat didn't get the rest that she was hoping to get.

"Want me to go delay him?" Tony asked.

"No, it's not like the bad guys give you breaks. What I want is a nice cold shower, followed by a nice hot soak in the tub, then I want food. I may take a super-hot shower and then just go straight for food. It'll depend on how this match goes. So, that means you'd better pick somewhere good for dinner. Have it figured out by the time this match is over." Nat practically skipped out of the room.

Pepper looked up in surprise at Tony and Tony back at her. Pepper took a breath and Tony did, too. Tony glanced down at Nat, then back at Pepper and back down to Nat, "Do you think she's okay?"

"Tony, I'm sure everything's fine. She's just been running hard these last few weeks. I don't even think she realized she did it. I'll ask Clint. He'll know."

"I'm sorry; am I'm missing something," Brad asked.

Just then Clint stepped back into the room. He could feel the tension in the air, "What is it?"

"Is Nat okay?"

Clint tilted his head slightly sideways, "As far as I know." He glared at Tony, "Why? Did your foot-in-mouth disease come back?"

"It's not like that, Clint," Pepper said. Clint stared at her waiting for a further explanation. She sighed, "Sh- She said she wanted something. It wasn't something that she just needed. She said she wanted it."

Clint's mouth fell open slightly, "Well, I'll be damned. Maybe all those damned talks during her morning runs with Sam and Steve are doing some good after all. Never thought I'd see the day." Clint trailed off.

"Are you sure she's her," Tony asked half-jokingly. "She's not an LMD is she?"

"A what," Brad asked.

"Life Model Decoy," Pepper filled in. "You really should keep up with technology better."

"Want to check and see if marks and scars only I know how she's got are there? They inevitably miss one or more." Pepper and Tony stared at him. "What? You do all kinds of weird shit on stakeouts while you're waiting for extraction. You should hear some of the stuff we've done with Phil. It's also a good way to check each other over for skin cancer," he said indignantly.

Sam walked in through the door and sat down. "Okay, Master Control Program, they want you to take the mats off the walls. They're getting fully into their gear and using their tech at full power."

"Jesus, really," Clint asked.

"I just think it was a reason for them both to get a quick shower and wolf down a snack, but I didn't tell you that."

Tony smiled, "That's devious."

"Yeah, we think Cap's suffering from 'Widow Exposure,'" Sam said. "He even said something crude earlier." He shrugged, "Granted, Nat started it."

"I know this may shock you, but, if crudeness is there, Nat will bring it out. Kinda like Tony and lack of patience. If you were ever in doubt that you lacked patience, just be in the same room with Tony. You will test positive or negative within thirty seconds to a minute, sometimes less," Clint smirked.

Nat and Steve entered the training room. The walls no longer had the spongy mats on them, they were a harder, but bouncy polymer that Tony had invented that was more conducive to the fighting styles of his teammates. They gave when a person hit them to reduce injury but reacted like a normal wall or floor when weapons were dropped or landed on them. They reached the center of the room and began fighting.

Steve blocked both her baton hits with his shield. He threw it at the wall to try and catch her with the shield. Steve boomeranged the shield, it came floating back to him after missing Nat completely. He threw it again, this time when it boomeranged she jumped from the wall and onto the shield making it drop to the floor a few feet in front of him.

She smirked at him. He charged at her. When he was close enough, she used his legs and back to climb on top of him, wrapping her legs around his middle and her arm around his neck into a tight choke out position. He began walking backward to the wall, getting ready to knock her off. She tightened her choke hold even tighter. She unlocked both her feet and swung them at the wall, pushing off of it. As Steve began to fall forward onto his front, she loosened her grip from around his neck and flipped off of him, grabbing his shield along the way.

Steve dizzily stood up, stumbling a little bit.

"Steve, you okay," Tony asked over the mic. Steve nodded and held a thumbs up.

"You know, Natasha, I don't think you usually fight as hard as you could when we practice."

Natasha smiled, "Let me know when you're done with your break, Old Man." Steve glared at her. She held his shield up and tossed it like a Frisbee to him. "So do you need a glass of water…?"

Steve threw the shield back at her— hard. She put her batons straight up in the air and caught them on the edges enough to slow down the shield so she could grab it back. She put her batons back in their holsters. Holding the shield, she ran at Steve full speed. He didn't know what she was going to do with it, but he tried to ready himself for her attack. She threw the shield right above his head leaving him stretching out with his arms to try and catch his shield, but she intentionally threw it too high for him to catch. His stomach was open. She jumped on the calf of his slightly bent leg causing him to lose his balance, grabbing him about the waist using her speed and weight as a counterbalance to spin him 180 degrees around, throwing him further off balance. She quickly regained hers, however, landing on her feet. He armed the magnet on his arm bringing the shield to him. He caught it in both hands, but she shocked both his arms with her bites, she hit him on his wrist, causing him to drop the shield. As it fell, she grabbed it in mid-air. She used his lack of balance to kick his feet out from under him and follow him down with the flat side of the shield to his chest. She then thrust it across his neck and froze about a half inch above his collar. Steve's eyes widened in shock.

"Holy Shit, Natasha," Steve said. "I'm sorry. I'll work harder on learning the spin move."

"That's all I asked in the first place." She sat the shield down next to his head and lightly smacked his face. "Now, I'm wanting a shower, a massage, food, and not long after that bed. The last three don't have to be in any certain order." She sat down and leaned her back against the closest wall.

"You deserve it."

"Wonder if I could talk Tony into carrying me up to the shower? He's got grease on him. He has to have a shower too."

Steve laughed. "He would, but you wouldn't let him."

She snorted, "Not as long as I can walk on my own."

Steve paused taking a moment to sit up and moved over next to her, their shoulders touching. "He and Pepper really love you. You know, that right? I mean, Tony does drop the ball sometimes and far too often for his own good, but he really just wants what's best for everyone. We all love you."

"I know, just stop babying me, okay? Especially when Clint has eyes _and_ ears on me. We worked out codes and micro-expressions and sounds and just... the works, years ago," she said with frustration. "You have to trust him when it comes to me. I know I sound awful, but I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to sound helpless. It's the job. You should know the difference between what it actually sounds like now."

They grimly looked at each other. He wrapped his arm around her and brought her in for a hug.

"I'm sorry. About everything. Since we were taken… I don't want it to happen again." His breath hitched, "I don't want to hear you scream like that ever again. I don't want you to ever have to make those sounds. Nat, there wasn't anything I could do to help." Steve looked so lost. He squinted his eyes tightly together and took a ragged breath, "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."

"Steve," she sat up and looked in his ocean-colored eyes, "It's okay; it happens. You're okay, and I'm okay. But listen," she put her hand in his, "it's going to happen again. I'm going to be taken again. It's part of how I work. Just let me do my job. Believe it or not, I'm pretty damn good at it. I _am_ almost as old as you are." She smiled at him, "Besides, most of these guys think girls have a glass jaw, so they hit so lightly it's like, 'I'm sorry, did you want to go to dinner?' 'Were you miming Morse Code?'" She laughed as she leaned back on one of her hands, "Clint and I did that one mission, you know."

Steve broke out into a huge grin, "How did that work out?"

"They discovered one of us was SHIELD but didn't know who, so they made us fight. We'd do quick punches, kinda like you do on the speed bag. It was raining so when a fist slid off someone's skin they just thought that the rain caused it. That was the dash. That was a Helluva mission. I never thought I'd say it was fun, but it was." Clint threw her a towel and she wiped the sweat out of her eyes.

"That's because you have a death wish," Clint said. "It was a horrible mission. She cracked two of my teeth and we were pulling punches. She's a horrible person."

"You're just mad cause you lost the fight so you had to play," She put her one hand on her chest and the other on her forehead. She leaned her head back and dramatically said, "'SHIELD Agent? Not lil ole' me!'" Her posture straightened and she more seriously said, "He had to do it for three hours. I helped him get loose after that. He's such a baby."

Tony put his hand out to help Natasha up, "Come on, Beautiful, time for a bath and a massage. They're still trying to figure out food." He drew her close to him, wrapping an arm around her waist. Nat smiled, leaning against his shoulder. She waved to the guys,

"Laters."

"I'll be up in a little bit, Gorgeous," Pepper said. She leaned down and kissed her gently.

Nat smiled all the way to the elevator, "You know what? I love the way you smell. Like grease and you and old cars." He looked down, smiled, and looked into her eyes. She lifted her hand up to his cheek. "I know that sometimes you doubt that I love you, you think I want you for the money and the tech, but I just want you. You and Pepper. You make me happy. If I ever start making you, _either_ of you unhappy, I want you to tell me to go. Just like that. No lingering, no hinting. Don't worry about it hurting me. All I want to do is make you happy. There's not enough happy in the world. I'm always causing someone to be sad. Sometimes it's a bad guy, sometimes it's the bad guy's family. The world isn't all black and white; there's grey in it, too. Some people don't look hard enough to see the grey. Makes 'em make stupid decisions. I've made lots of those."

Tony stared at Nat. He didn't know what to say. He didn't have words to explain. He felt tears start to well up, "Natty, never think that. You should never think you aren't good enough ever. You're so special to us; it's why we love you."

"It's no wonder they call you the World's Greatest Heroes," Brad said looking at Cap after Tony escorted Nat out of the room.

"Well, Nat and I can go a little harder on each other than we can on other people, so it's nice to be able to stretch your legs, every so often if you know what I mean." Steve finished off his water bottle and Sam handed him another.

"So, her getting injected with the serum by the Russians was true," Brad asked.

"Yeah, she just got a weaker version of it." Steve paused to take a drink of water. "One of the reasons we're more evenly matched than most people would be is because she's so fast and tiny; she uses it to her advantage."

Sam laughed, "Thor says she's 'Tiny, but fierce.' Then he starts comparing her to the women on Asgard and says he'd proud to fight with her. He just goes on and on from there."

"Has she always fought like that?" Brad inquired.

"Clint, you've fought with her the longest…?"

"Let me put it to you this way, Brad. She's been trained since she was four. In the

Room, if you washed out, you died. She killed her first man at seven with her bare hands and her codename is the Black Widow. She's smart, gorgeous, and can take most people down with just a glance. She can be scary as Hell and a sweetheart in the same breath, but whatever you do, do not mess with her or her people. You will regret it. It's not pretty. Now to actually answer your question, if you'd been training for your life since you were four, don't you think you'd train that hard?"

"As fast as the Captain and she move, it's a bit difficult to see exactly what they're doing."

"That's the idea. Most people aren't that fast. Though I have to admit Pepper and Stark are beginning to catch up," Sam chuckled.

Chapter Management


	5. Chapter 5: Crazy in All the Right Ways

Chapter 5: Crazy in All the Right Ways

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"I'm so glad you decided you would join me at the ballet. I really didn't want to come by myself," Brad said.

Nat smiled her special smile: the one that meant 'a mark was about to fall to his knees and do anything she wanted' smile. "It's the ballet, how could I resist?"

"I do hope you weren't too bored with us discussing business at dinner last night."

"Usually, I find it entertaining enough to follow along. Besides, it's always fun to learn something new about someone," Nat's eyes sparkled.

Brad led her to the private box seats he had reserved. Over the next two hours, they watched a beautiful rendition of 'The Creatures of Prometheus.' Nat wondered if Brad had picked that particular ballet on purpose or if he'd chosen it at random. Afterward, he insisted on taking Nat out to dinner at one of the more exclusive, but newer, places in New York. He explained a friend was a partner in the business, and he wanted an honest opinion from someone who wouldn't lie to him about how the food, the atmosphere, and the wait staff were. Nat agreed to go along. Once they were seated and ordered their meals, she sent the team a text saying where she was in case an emergency should arise.

"So, does that happen often," Brad asked, "getting called to assemble?"

"We can go for weeks with it being quiet, and then, suddenly, it's like every villain on the Earth decides to attack. Sometimes the police or the military can handle them, but, unfortunately, that's not always the case. Some of them are more extreme, and that's where we come in. We offer assistance when needed. We try not to overstep boundaries, but, regrettably, some countries can't or won't see the danger until it's too late." Natasha shrugged causing the strap of her dress to slide down her shoulder,

"Politics are the same everywhere; they just have different names for the politicians in power." She reached over and slid the strap back up her arm.

"I'm trying to decide if you're cynical or just distrustful in general."

Natasha picked up her water glass and drank down the contents until it was half full. "In simpler terms, I believe you're asking me if this glass is half empty or half full." She sat the glass back down on the table and ran a red painted fingernail over the lip of the glass.

Brad looked at her and smiled flirtingly, "Okay, I'll play. Which one is it?"

"What do you think," Nat asked.

"Honestly, I think it depends on the contents of the glass."

"Ah, so you're a realist."

Brad looked at the glass for a moment, "Yes. I guess I am. I just never really thought about it before." He smirked. "Hmm, I learned something new about myself. What about you? What do you think of the glass?"

"I think this glass," she pointed to her water glass, "is a glass which contains half a glass of water. Right now, it's simply a glass with water in it. You can make almost anything into a weapon or a toy. It's all about how inventive you are, in this case, it's with this glass and its contents." She tapped her fingernail against the glass.

"Please," Brad said, "explain further." Brad was very interested in what she was going to say next. There was a brief interruption for the food being brought for them to eat.

"Your water glass, please." Nat drank some of the water down and wet the rims of their water glasses and her wine glass to make them play a musical tune. She looked at Brad. "Can we agree on this being a toy?" Brad nodded. She moved his water glass back toward his side of the table, her wine glass back to where it was supposed to be in the table setting and moved the water glass to the center of the table. "Now, as for a weapon, there's any number of ways I can use this as a weapon. I could poison the contents, with a little ingenuity I could drown someone, I could always break the glass and use the broken glass as a weapon. Now those are three things that just came to mind within the first ten seconds of us sitting at this table, so like I said it's a half full glass. If we're talking about it being 'this' glass," she touched the glass, "then I guess that makes me a realist as well." She held her finger up, "But at the same time, if we're speaking figuratively, the glass is always half full and half empty."

"You see, I prepare for missions to the point the guys think they could run themselves. And well, I have to admit that sometimes, they do. Then again, that's probably due to me being so overly prepared at times; my contingencies have contingencies. There's your half full part. Your half empty part is things not going as planned. We all hope the terrorist is going to be on that street corner at 7:45 like he's supposed to be and has been every morning for the last three months, but something may hold him up. Maybe he missed his train or he decided his tie wasn't suitable that day. Empty is hope and luck. I do always so hope that things work out. I mean, there's a bit of luck that goes with running toward gunfire and not getting injured. So, I suppose that when you fill up the whole glass, it is empty and full both at the same time.

"That is a deeply captivating way of looking at things."

Natasha took a sip of her wine, "I'm glad you thought so. Now, you know the kind of things Clint, our handler, and I used to talk about on missions."

"So, it wasn't all, 'Go get the bad guy'?"

Nat smiled, "Believe it or not, there's a lot of waiting involved in espionage." They'd finished their food. "You want to get out of here? It's a nice night, and we can walk back to the Tower. There's a cute ice cream parlor right down from it."

"Sounds good." Brad got the check and paid for it while Nat powdered her nose.

They began walking toward the Tower. "You said you had a handler. Was it the same one who was at dinner the other night?"

"Yeah. I want to apologize for then. I couldn't take them acting like that anymore, and I blew a fuse. I didn't mean for it to happen in front of you," she said bashfully.

"It's all right. I understand. Sometimes, you just have to clear the air." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "So, what other stuff did you talk about or do while you waited?" He smiled and offered his arm. She linked her arm in his while they walked.

"We can actually all sing fairly well. Every so often, usually Clint, would break out into song over comms. At first, I thought it was just to see if he'd get a reaction out of me, being trained like I was. Now," she shrugged, "now, I know it was just to see me smile. Clint and Phil said I didn't do enough of it. It's actually how I learned a lot of American Pop Culture references. Cap doesn't appreciate Clint's random singing or trash talking over comms as much as Phil did. He always said as long as Clint was talking, he knew he was still alive."

Nat giggled. "Clint would bring his guitar with him, and we'd be stuck in safe houses waiting on extractions or go orders, and we'd sing. He and Phil both play piano. When Clint would aggravate us, Phil and I would sing Cole Porter and Gershwin. Now, if he doesn't hear me humming 'Summertime' at least once a week he thinks something's wrong."

"What's something else you'd sing?"

"Oh, anything. Whatever came to mind. You haven't lived until you've seen grown men both sing and dance to 'Single Ladies' because you're bedridden," she giggled.

"Oh, my God, what happened?"

"Asshole poisoned me. Extraction was taking forever to get there. I was in and out of consciousness. They were doing everything and anything they could to make me stay awake. By the time extraction got there, my temp had dropped to ninety-two degrees, so to try and warm me up they'd stripped to their skivvies and were in bed with me trying to get me not to lose any more body heat. I'd rarely seen those two panicked like

they were."

"Tony and Pepper said Clint was your best friend. It makes sense."

Natasha nodded, "What about you? You've let me ramble all night but haven't told me anything about yourself."

"Um, not much to tell really. My mom died when I was three. We were in a car accident that I'm to this day not so sure my father didn't set up. Somehow, I survived. Growing up, I learned more and more about my company. As soon as I was able, I took over. After mom died, my father was worse off than he already was. I couldn't understand why he acted the way he did, and I still don't in many ways, but I really just think that he was a proud man who didn't want to ask for help when he had the opportunity. I began running the company behind his back as soon as I figured out how to make it run correctly. It's not like he ever paid any attention to what was actually going on anyway."

"I understand what you mean, at least some bits of it," Nat said. "So, how'd you fix it?"

"I asked for some help from the right people that didn't mind doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. Wasn't such a good plan at first, but then they helped me clean house and get some things sorted out. Sure enough, within a short time, the board agreed with me, and we convinced the old man to back off and do his thing while I ran it. We've been gaining profits ever since," Brad said proudly.

"You make it sound easy."

"Oh, believe me, it wasn't," he smiled. "Getting the old guard out while subtly getting the new guard in, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but that took some maneuvering at times."

"I can imagine. I've helped purge the old regime on many occasions," she took a deep breath in and exhaled it, "most of the time it wasn't as subtle as it could have been."

"Pre-SHIELD?"

"Oh yeah." Nat nodded. "There's a mantra the Red Room and the KGB drove into my head over and over. Too bad not everyone took heed as well as others. It would have

saved me a ton of work later on."

He looked at her curiously, "What was that— if you don't think it too forward of me asking."

"Hmm?" she asked, lost in thought. "Oh, sorry. 'You have no place in this world.' It was constantly told to me since I was a child. Clint and Phil took a lot of time reminding me that wasn't true. And there are times I still believe it."

Brad stopped walking. He turned and looked at her, "I can't believe that."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone has a place, but yours just might not be what they had planned." He smiled warmly at her.

"You make a valid point."

"What happens when you still believe it," he asked softly.

"Tony and Pepper gang up on me and remind me otherwise. If they're not there, then Phil and Clint do. We watch movies, bad ones if it were left up to Clint, old black and white ones with Phil… They're my family and I love them dearly. Thankfully, Clint and Phil don't act like I'm glass. Even Hulk treats me tougher than the rest of them do. Pepper's not as clingy." Nat chuckled, "but then she gets it, working in a 'man's' world."

"You guys are something else. Honestly, I never would have thought you would have had the relationship you do with Tony."

"Someone has to keep him in check." They laughed, "But seriously, though, I think it just takes the three of us to keep each other's heads on straight. And believe me, I never would have thought that I'd ever be in a relationship with Tony Stark either. Within the first five minutes of meeting him, I realized I wanted to strangle him, and I didn't know how Pepper didn't. It took a little while, but I eventually saw the real side of Tony, the one he keeps hidden. That's when I knew exactly why Pepper didn't kill him." She smiled wistfully.

"Because she loved him?"

"Because she was as crazy as he was! What the Hell was wrong with those two falling for me? They must have some sort of hidden crazy, 'cause that's just not normal," she grinned.

Brad laughed, "Well, at least you knew what you were getting into."

Notes:

The Creatures of Prometheus ballet is an allegory for all the types of people on earth (good, evil, and all the things in between). My lovely sister suggested it to me.

Chapter Management


	6. Chapter 6: Hostile Takeover

Chapter 6: Hostile Takeover

Chapter Text

Natasha was curled comfortably in between Tony and Pepper. They'd discovered this way of sleeping usually worked out best since Tony came to bed at all hours and Pepper got up so early. Nat could always extricate herself from the middle without waking either party up. If she came to bed after the two were already asleep, she just joined in on whatever side she had the most room on, she wasn't picky. Somehow being stuck between the two of them seemed to help chase the nightmares away; whereas for Tony, he said the extra body heat she put off due to the serum helped his.

She and Pepper secretly thought it was just their presence making sure he didn't do anything too stupid.

She sighed as she heard the beginning of the Avengers Assemble alarm. Pepper squeezed her tightly and kissed her on the forehead before telling her to 'be careful' and an 'I love you.' Nat was already in the bathroom when Tony was saying his 'I love you's' and hearing his 'be careful.' He got the 'watch out for each other' speech to go along with it. When he walked into the bathroom Nat already had toothpaste on his toothbrush, which was carefully balanced so the toothpaste end didn't touch anything on the edge of the sink. Tony looked over to her using the mirror and smiled as best as he could as he began brushing his teeth. He watched her brush the tangles out of her hair from the previous night's escapades.

Pepper's alarm went off and they heard her get up. She walked to the closet and grabbed Nat's uniform and handed it to her as she picked out her clothes for the day. Natasha slid on her sports bra, boy shorts, and socks before sliding on her uniform and zipping it up. She put her feet in her boots she kept by the chair. Tony was quickly getting dressed, throwing on a pair of jeans as Nat was arming herself. He still couldn't believe how fast she could get out of bed, do the wake-up rituals, and get into that uniform, fully armed. Pepper was walking out of the bathroom just in time to give them goodbye kisses.

"Reminding you both again, Be safe. Keep each other safe. Remember that I love you." She smiled at them.

They both wrapped her in their arms, "I love you, too." They said in unison.

"Now go kick some ass."

"The military has thrown everything they can think of aside from a nuke at it, they've made very little progress. And after last time, they're not so willing to use a nuke again." Coulson filled them in as they approached their mission. "That's where you come in. Maybe together you can figure out something they didn't. I have Fitz and Simmons working here on my end, but, thus far, nothing. Any ideas?"

Clint sat the jet down far enough away it'd be out of the way, but close enough they'd hopefully have access to the medical facilities if needed. They grabbed their mission items, (comms, weapons, tools, medical supplies, etc.) and disembarked. Once off the plane, they all stared at their purpose for being called out on the ass crack of dawn on a rainy Tuesday morning.

"What the actual fuck is that," Clint said as they looked toward the rain filled sky to their objective hovering there. Moments before it had been slinging its enormous tentacles around knocking into buildings like giant whips.

Nat eyed Tony, "Does that look like the 'alien' from the Watchmen to you?"

The monster was enormous and ugly to boot. It was at least a hundred feet and had scores of long, muscular tentacles, the tops covered with boil-like protrusions. They were either a marbled yellow or a pallid blue color with grey undersides. It had one large eye and a horned, eight-pronged beak on its face. Most of its head was taken up by its enormous, fleshy pink-colored brain, which was open and exposed.

"I can see that," Phil agreed over comms. "Where did it come from though?"

Nat yawned, "Why do we always have to fight weird shit? Just once, why couldn't it be something normal?"

"It looks like a huge squid to me," Cap said.

"It's from a comic book, Cap. I'll loan you my copy when we get back to the Tower."

"Stark, do you have a," Clint gasped, " _print_ copy of something?"

"I do of comic books," Tony stated unashamedly.

"Nat, is this true?"

"Yes, it's true. They're in the lab office. I read them while I'm waiting for him to finish experiments. Has anyone else noticed that when the rain hits the brain, the area around it shimmers and turns blue? It looks like a forcefield."

"There went my 'attack the brain' idea," Tony grumbled.

"I wonder if we could put anything in its mouth to blow it up," Nat said. "It looks like the forcefield is only around the brain."

Cap spoke up, "We need to get it away from the population first. If we shoot anything into its mouth to blow it up, we risk it working and falling onto buildings."

"Agreed," Phil chimed in.

"Suggestions?"

"I have one, but you won't like it," Nat said as she stared at the monster still hanging in the sky.

Steve sighed, "I rarely do. Doesn't mean they're not effective."

"Get me on the monster so I can examine it better. I might be able to disengage the forcefield around the brain area. Maybe even make it change directions enough to make it land in the park instead of on a building or five. You guys go after the tentacles and maybe it won't even realize I'm there, or, at the very least, it'll distract him from me."

"Natty," Tony began. Nat stopped him with a look.

"You're right," Cap said, "I don't like it, but it's not a bad plan. Let's use it as a last resort, though. Once you're up there we have no idea what you'll be dealing with. Besides, what if you fall off?"

Nat smiled, "Somebody'll catch me."

"For the record, I hate this plan," Tony said gruffly.

"That's why it's a last resort plan," Cap responded. "I'm not exactly keen on this idea either, but, if it's what we have to do… Getting it over the park, though," Steve nodded as he stared at the huge beast, "Yeah, that is a good idea. We can minimize the damage that way. Okay, Sam go with Clint and set up a good lookout space. Be ready to fly him out at a moment's notice. Thor, try and get this thing's attention and keep it. Go after its... arms?" Steve shrugged.

"Tentacles," Nat suggested.

"We have the park being evacuated as we speak," Phil said.

"Okay, Clint and Sam, go. Let me know when you're in position," and with that, they took off.

"Found a shady spot. Nat's right. The forcefield looks like it only covers the brain. Looks like there's an opening at the back of it before the tentacles begin. I guess where the body is? I think you have enough space to be able to crawl in there, Nat if it comes to that," Clint said.

"It's registering as ninety-five degrees," Sam said.

"Okay, good to know the backup plan has a chance. Thor, go grab its attention." Thor spun Mjolnir a few times before he took to the skies. One of the tentacles made a grab for him but he slapped it away with the mighty hammer. The creature advanced toward him. Thor backed away toward Central Park.

"Perfect, Thor, just what we wanted," Steve said.

"Okay, now what," Tony asked.

"Tony, you head up with Thor and see if you can get this thing to move any faster. Nat and I'll stay on the ground and see what we can do from here."

Nat cast a look over to Steve, "What are we going to do on the ground, Steve?"

"I don't know yet, but a change in perspective can help."

Nat almost rolled her eyes, "How about we go ahead to Central Park and go from there," she suggested placatingly.

"Good plan."

As they moved toward the park the creature waved its tentacles around, reaching out to the two flying Avengers.

"Coulson, do we know when this thing appeared," Nat asked.

"About four hours ago. And no, I don't know why you weren't immediately called in because I realize this is not what the military is used to handling, and this has an oh-eight-four possibility."

"It just popped up there in the middle of the sky," Clint asked.

"As far as anyone can tell. No one saw it approach. Everyone we interviewed said they looked up and bang, it was there."

"It hasn't tried to communicate in any way?" Steve asked.

"No, the only thing we know for sure is that it appears to have organic parts," Phil responded.

"So, it could be an alien that just transported here and is confused by everything," Sam asked.

"I suppose."

"By 'appears' do you mean 'just by looking at it?'" Natasha asked.

"Pretty much."

Steve mumbled 'shit' underneath his breath. "Tony, what do you see up there?"

"Oh," he grunted, "a bunch of tentacles swatting at me and getting closer every time."

"I have to agree with Stark," Thor said. The creature swung a massive tentacle out and grabbed ahold of Thor slinging him into a building. He cried out in pain.

"Thor! You okay?" Steve yelled.

"I've been better," he said from the rubble. As he stood up, he felt the full effects of the tentacle touching him. "Do not let the end of the tentacle touch you, it has some sort of chemical in it. I… My head…" Thor's vision blurred and he fell over unconscious onto the floor of the building.

"Tony, go—" Steve was cut off. The monster had wrapped one of its long tentacles around Tony's chest. He was attempting to fly away, but couldn't get loose. The blasters were doing no damage to the monster or the limb wrapped around him. The tentacles gripped him tighter and tighter. The suit becoming more and more damaged.

"Structural integrity failing," FRIDAY informed him.

"I'm aware!" Tony struggled to think of anything he could do, but he was wound up in the tentacles and the pressure they were exceeding onto the suit were slowly eeking to the equivalent to being crushed by buildings. "Nat!"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too. Now, think of a way to get out of there."

A tentacle suddenly swung and hit the building Clint and Sam were hiding in, nearly dumping them out from the balcony onto the street below.

"Take the stairs, do not try and fly out! Take the stairs!" Steve ordered.

"Not a problem," Sam replied as they finally got themselves off the edge of the building and made a run for the stairs.

Steve turned to Nat, "Any ideas?"

"Remember Manhattan?

"I don't know if I can get you that high."

"Won't know until we try."

"What if we miss?"

Nat grabbed Steve's arm, "We won't miss. Now come on, we gotta get behind that

thing."

Steve and Nat scrambled, but finally after some careful navigation got to an area behind the monster where Nat could get a jump and then get the extra bounce from Steve's shield. She reached a lip below the brain, her fingertips barely catching it. She was three feet further to the right then she wanted to be. There was an area that came out a few inches about a foot over. She concentrated on grabbing that next. Once she had it, the grab for the vent was more difficult. The metal was over a hundred degrees as it was definitely a vent port. She was happy she was wearing gloves and the suit was heat resistant. She climbed into the vent.

"Why do you always have the most terrifying of ideas," Steve asked.

"They work, don't they?"

"They still make my heart nearly stop beating."

"Next, you'll say you have the vapors, Rogers."

"Natty, you're doing something I'm not going to like, aren't you?" Tony asked.

"Well, you aren't here to stop me," she said thoughtfully as she grabbed her knife out of her boot and popped open what looked to be a way to access the creature's controls. She braced herself, expecting movement which she never got. She crawled a little further into the port. The heat coming out of it had increased with the battle. She put the door she'd taken off up to the left of her to help protect her from the heat. She positioned it in front of her face until she got two wall panels and a ceiling panel pulled up and bent into shape after using a mini torch to help bend them. She put them in position to block the heat behind it so she'd have extra layers of protection. _Thank you, Tony, for adding fireproofing to the suit._ After that, she immediately dove into the guts behind the access panel.

"Guys?"

"Go ahead," Cap replied.

"This isn't organic in the slightest. Someone loved the Watchmen way too much. It has parts in it marked Veidt Enterprises."

"Are you serious," Tony asked disbelievingly.

"No, I'm telling you this because I enjoy roasting in a vent port," Nat huffed.

"Do you think you can shut down the forcefield," Cap asked.

"I may be able to do you one better if you get this thing over to the park. Just tell me when we're safely there."

"Almost there. Coulson's team is here and they're doing something to 'encourage' it to the Park."

"Anyway to make it faster? My makeshift heat shield is starting to buckle." She hooked her minicomputer she kept on her arm into the panel port. Her eyes darted between the computer and the readout the port was giving her. _Why do I always do things that get me in the worst trouble?_

"Look, if my heat shield goes out while I'm in here, it's not going to be pretty. If I think it's going to happen, we're just going to have to have some collateral damage. Needs of the many outweigh the few and we have to take this thing down. There's no telling how much heat is behind my makeshift shield right now, but we're not going to get a second chance at this."

"But—," Tony protested.

Nat suddenly began to hear a rumbling noise coming from the tunnel where the vent was, "Shit! Time's up guys." She pressed the button on the panel and jumped out of the vent, a fiery trail following her out the vent. She somersaulted, boot knife in hand. She stuck the knife in one of the tentacles on her way to the ground, slowing her ascent.

The squid monster froze solid in the air, then slowly began to descend to the ground. Suddenly it picked up speed. Nat jumped from one tentacle to another to avoid being under the crash, before she could jump to a third, Sam caught her.

"Thanks, Sam."

"'S'what I'm here for. 'Sides, it's not like you don't ever save my ass." They flew to where Cap and Mack, a member of Coulson's team, was helping Tony get his suit off.

"I told you someone would catch me."

"For fuck's sake, Natty! Don't you ever do that again!"

Her brow furrowed, "Would you prefer me to crisp?"

"No. God no, just…" Tony broke free of the suit and grabbed her in his arms. He held her against him.

"It's okay. Really. I'm still here," she said soothingly, running her fingers through his hair.

"But what if…"

"No. No what ifs. I'm here and that's all that matters.

Clint strolled up and hugged Natasha from the back, his arms around her waist right above Tony's, "God damn it! Scare the shit out of me one time!"

"Cause neither of you have ever terrified me doing stupid shit. At least I didn't have a choice as an excuse. What's yours?"

"She makes a good point," Sam interjected. "Honestly, though, I thought it looked pretty damn cool."

"Thank you, Sam. I'm glad someone appreciates me."

Tony smelled her, "You smell like hydraulic fluid."

Nat stuck her tongue out at him, "It's green, so it's probably the biodegradable kind, too. At least with all this rain it'll be washed off soon."

"Our nut is probably environmentally conscientious," Steve said walking up. "Good thing too in all this rain."

"It came from the tentacles as I was sliding down them."

"That's one Hell of a knife, by the way," Sam said.

"Thor gave it to me after helping him buy presents for Jane's birthday. I've grown quite fond of it."

"Let's go check on our creature feature and make sure he's down for the count. Thor's kinda awake, but still a little woozy. Some of Phil's people are up there with him." Tony said.

"I'm gonna go check out the damage and the surrounding area. See what I can figure out. We already know something's off. I wanna see if I can get some insight into what and if it's connected to our other… What?" Tony gave her a look. "You won't even know I was gone."

"You better be back quicker than the Flash." She kissed him briefly and smiled at him.

"Natasha," Tony said, "Please be careful."

"Of course," before she took off across the street. He walked over to the monster where the rest of the team was standing.

Clint looked around, "Where's Natasha?"

"Checking out the damage, looking for clues, doing her spy thing."

"Tony, man," Sam said, "I gotta ask, two redheads, what possessed you?"

"Luck?" he shrugged.

"Uh huh. Sure." Clint looked at him doubtfully. "I think he likes asking for trouble."

"You know, I can hear you guys talking about me," Natasha said over comms.

Tony cleared his throat. "What's taking you so long, Sweet Pea?"

"I had to climb over some debris to look around, _Daddy_."

"Hey! We do _not_ play that game."

"Then stop being a worrywart," she grumbled. Nat's voice suddenly got quieter, "Guys, a white van just pulled up with Veidt Enterprises on the side. I have a really bad feeling about this. I'm gonna make a run for it back to you."

Nat turned and ran. She jumped over some fallen pieces of building before feeling something pierce through her neck. She got to an overturned car as she felt her eyes grow heavy as she felt another prick to her skin. She got up to run again, but she lost her balance on top of a rain-slicked chunk of building, hitting her head against a car's metal bumper on the way down. She vaguely felt herself being picked up and carried.

"Nat?" Tony cried as they raced toward where he last saw her.

"Tony," Clint yelled.

Tony raced over to where Clint was standing. There was a washed-out spot of blood from where she'd hit her head on the bumper. `

Natasha sluggishly woke up but she remembered to keep her breathing and heart rate steady. The memories of earlier slowly came back to her as her mind became less fuzzy. At least that explained her massive headache. She listened to what was going on around her, smelled the air, felt what she could against her body. It was fairly quiet. A man was talking on the phone, the voice sounded very familiar but she couldn't understand him well enough to know who he was. All she could smell was hydraulic fluid. She was pretty sure that it wasn't her because, for the length of time she'd been in that heavy rainstorm, it should have washed almost completely off. She was bound to a chair with rope. Her arms were behind her back, but they left her feet free. She scoffed internally, _Amateurs_. She finally opened her eyes and surveyed the room. It didn't have any windows and only one doorway. _Well, they aren't complete morons. I might be in a little trouble._ There were pallets of hydraulic fluid stacked around her. At least one container looked as if it was leaking fluid onto the floor explaining the smell.

"I'm impressed it took two darts to take you down, and I'm pretty sure the only reason it was only two was because you hit your head on that bumper."

"I do what I can."

"I see they tried to underestimate you again. It really was impressive you taking my creature down like you did. I don't think any of the other Avengers would have been able to do what you did. I was thoroughly impressed with you sliding down the tentacles. You weren't that high off the ground when Falcon came into 'save' you. You didn't need it. You had it all on your own."

He paced the floor in front of her, "If it makes you feel any better, I understand a bit how you feel. Trying to fill in your father's shoes isn't the easiest thing when he could do no wrong even though he almost completely sank your company. It's horrible to have to stage a hostile takeover of a company that you were going to inherit anyway... If the old bastard would have just gone ahead and died. I really didn't want to inherit the debt. I'm sure you can understand what I mean. I had a problem to take care of, luckily, I found a way to take care of it."

"HYDRA wasn't the answer," Nat said, struggling against the ropes.

"Maybe not for you, but for me, it was the perfect answer. He's not here to get in the way anymore, to ruin everything. And all I had to do was turn a blind eye here and there. It's really quite easy."

"It shouldn't be."

"Oh, Natasha, like you're so perfect." Nat tried to object. "Yes, I know about your stupid ledger. You know what, though, you're never going to have that even remotely clean, so just give up on that idea. I saw what you put on the Internet. That took balls. You've got to be a bit nuts, too. In any case, I have a bunch of friends who are really angry at you for doing that. Apparently, they can't find jobs anymore." He shrugged. "I don't know. I made them all millionaires, but they want to continue working for some reason instead of retiring. I'd retire from assassination, but that's just the kind of person I am. I think really more than anything they just want straight up revenge. You come with a pretty nice bounty, did you know that?

"Really," she said drily. "What's it up to now?"

"HYDRA has it up to fifty million."

Nat snorted, "Ten Rings had it up to almost a hundred million at one point. You might want to do a price comparison."

"See what I mean by crazy? Normal people do not just give up information like that."

Nat shrugged as best she could in the ropes, "Brad, how did you know your mother was dead?"

"My father told me after I woke up at the house after the wreck."

She raised an eyebrow, "What do you remember of the wreck?"

"Just that we slammed on brakes and I had a bump on my head. I woke up at the house. Why?"

"Do you want to know what really happened to your mother?"

"She died in a car wreck," he said harshly.

She looked at him questionably, "Did she now?"

"Why? What lies are you going to tell me?"

"I'm not going to lie to you. You can verify it if you'd like. Actually, please do."

He couldn't help it. He wanted to know what she was going to say. They didn't go to the funeral. He and his mother had been close; if Natasha actually had more information about her death, he was going to listen to it. If it was lies, then he had just wasted a bit of time. "Fine, what happened?"

"The reason your business was in such bad shape was because your father was using all the resources to look for your mother. That slamming on brakes you remember, the car wreck you don't actually remember, all that and more was a HYDRA set up so they could kidnap your mother. They were trying to use her to get to your grandfather. He worked for the government in Austria, and he had access to some very important documents."

"You're lying," he said disbelievingly while he gritted his teeth.

"Oh, it's true. Remember, you didn't tell me that you were already in bed with HYDRA; I told _you_. If I didn't know for a fact it was HYDRA, I could have said anyone else, like the mob or even the Ten Rings." His face froze. "Yeah, while you mull that over, here's some more information for you. When you and HYDRA began your lurid affair because your father 'wasted all the money,' you couldn't have gone by their plan any better. So, tell me, who was it that whispered all the great things HYDRA could help you accomplish in your ear?" She raised an eyebrow waiting for his response. "Oh wait, I already know. You think I didn't have you checked out when Pepper first said you were coming on a bit strong over the phone? That something just seemed off, that it seemed more than just wanting to get SI to buy your product. I check out everyone, so, don't feel too special, but I pay exceptional attention when my girlfriend mentions them by name. Imagine my surprise when I saw the names of known HYDRA affiliates sitting on your board."

His eyes narrowed, "You think you're so smart. How soon was it that you brought me into your home that you checked me out? I'd already sent all the information to HYDRA immediately after my visit."

Natasha laughed, "Do you think you would have gotten in if I hadn't already run an intense background check on you? I knew exactly who you were from the beginning. Before I ever met you in person. The whole team knew about you and so did Pepper. It was so easy to interrupt every meeting you had. And you felt that little ego boost because you were being allowed to see Avengers business. You saw what we wanted you to see. You got to see a little personal actual discourse just to make it just a little bit more believable." Natasha laughed at him, "My God, you are a bigger idiot that I already thought you were."

"You're still tied up, what about when HYDRA gets here," he asked menacingly.

"Are you so sure about that?" She wiggled slightly and the ropes fell off. She had him on the floor and pinned in seconds. "As for bringing you into our home, thank you so much for all that wonderful information you keep on your phone and your laptop. You verified what I already suspected. Well, that and you led us right to a bunch of your HYDRA buddies. We did find out what happened to your mother. After you had your father killed, your HYDRA friends killed her too. They didn't need her anymore, but luckily you have a sister to take over the business. You see, HYDRA was going to lord her over you if you ever became a problem."

He gasped, "A sister?"

"Yup. Seems your mom was on the way to the doctor to get her pregnancy verified when she was kidnapped." The door to the room opened, "Ah, the cleanup crew has arrived." One of the junior SHIELD agents cuffed and took Brad out of the room. Natasha sat on the floor and leaned against the wall.

"You okay, Natasha," Tucker asked as he leaned down to check on her.

She gently rubbed around the cut on her head and winced, "Got any aspirin?"

Tucker chuckled, "Let's get you home."

Chapter Management


	7. Chapter 7: Epilogue Trouble & Luck

Chapter 7: Epilogue- Trouble & Luck

Chapter Text

Steve grabbed Nat in a one-armed hug as she walked into the Tower, "You said it was gonna happen again; I just didn't think you meant this soon."

"Tucker said Brad wanted to kidnap and hold you guys for ransom, but, since Thor wasn't out as long as he thought he'd be from when the tentacle grabbed him, he just grabbed me like he originally planned," Nat said.

"It might have been a smart idea if you weren't already ten steps ahead of him."

Nat shrugged, "And people call me paranoid."

"I know; you aren't paranoid if there's someone really after you." He squeezed her tightly to him. "I should have listened to you on the monster. It was a good plan."

"It was a risky plan." She looked up at him, "Look, I know I'm not always right. It was a good idea to get more information on our monster."

"Yeah, but..."

She smacked him gently on the stomach, "Shush it, you. No buts, no what ifs. You know the rule."

"I'm just really glad you're okay."

"Of course, I am. Have you ever known me not to be?"

Cap snickered, "Not according to you. There's a late team breakfast in the morning.

Pepper already claimed you tonight, did it before Stark could even open his mouth. She said we could see you tomorrow. Phil said Doctor Simmons said you needed rest over the next few days, and you were going to get it whether you liked it or not, so there's your warning." He grinned suggestively at her, "You probably won't get the kind of rest they meant."

Natasha raised an eyebrow, "Steve," she said with mock surprise, "are you implying they want to have," she lowered her voice, "sex with me?"

Steve laughed, "Get your ass to your floor. You're exhausted. You may not want to admit it, but I can see it. I got your numbah." His Brooklyn accent slipped out toward the end. Right then a huge yawn overtook her. "Yep, you're gettin' an escort." Steve gently prodded her toward the elevator, "FRIDAY, Natasha, Pepper, and Tony's floor, please."

"Yes, Steve," FRIDAY replied. The elevator began moving toward the penthouse.

"You didn't have to do this, you know," Nat said as she stifled another yawn.

Steve looked her over, "It's the least I could do. You might fall asleep on the elevator."

Nat glared at him, "I'm not that bad off."

"You aren't lookin' at you."

The bell dinged to alert them they'd arrived on Nat's floor. The doors opened to a waiting Tony and Pepper. Steve couldn't help but smile at them, "Special delivery. Be gentle with her. Despite what she says, I think she's asleep on her feet."

"Thanks, Steve," Pepper said warmly as her arms wrapped around Natasha.

"Night," Steve said as the elevator doors closed.

Tony joined Pepper in enveloping Nat in the embrace. She'd already debriefed, showered, and been checked over on base with instructions to rest for the next few days.

 _Since Phil knew she wouldn't take the orders seriously, he gave them directly to Pepper and Tony. "Think you can manage to keep her in bed or on the couch for few days?"_

" _Yeah, if we tire her out with sex," Tony grumbled._

 _Pepper slapped him on the arm, "Tony," she'd admonished._

 _Phil didn't blink an eye, "That would probably be fine as long as she's okay with it and_

 _feels up to it. Don't make her work for it."_

" _A pillow princess for a few days," Tony said thoughtfully. "I can work with that."_

 _Pepper brought her hand up to her face and sighed loudly._

"Come on, Beautiful, let's get you into your pajamas and into bed," Pepper said affectionately.

Nat nodded, "Kay."

Pepper took her hand and led her over to the bed. She helped her pull off her clothes and put on the pajamas Pepper had already laid out for her. Tony drew the covers back for her and helped her get her pillows arranged the way she wanted on their oversized bed.

"All righty, Tzarina, you comfy?" Tony pulled the blanket up and over her. Nat could barely keep her eyes open. She nodded. "I've got to go check on some stuff in the lab, and then I'm gonna shower and crawl into bed with you, okay?"

"Sounds good," she said quietly.

He smiled at her, thanking his lucky stars to have found her. He didn't know if he'd ever get over the idea of possibly ever losing her. He stroked his fingers through her hair, "I love you, Natasha."

She smiled at him and quietly said, "Я тоже тебя люблю," without opening her eyes.

By the time Tony got back from the lab, Nat and Pepper were cuddled up in bed, Pepper spooning her. They had the TV on mostly for background noise, watching an old Don Knotts movie that Tony couldn't believe Nat found so funny. It was at the 'And they used Bon Ami,' part. It was a guaranteed way to make Nat smile. A few weeks before they officially got together, Nat was complaining about having trouble getting a stain off her apartment floor. Clint asked her if she had used Bon Ami (pronounced bon amee). Tony didn't think he'd ever seen her eyes had light up that way before. He had to know what was so special about it, so he'd asked. Nat grabbed his hand and immediately escorted him into her living room, and they spent the next hour and a half watching the movie. Tony had to admit, it was completely ridiculous, but it was cute, and she seemed to love it. She smiled and giggled away; it was a completely delightful sound. It was the first time he and Nat had ever snuggled together. He smiled as he remembered it adoringly.

He grabbed his pajama pants and a T-shirt and made his way to the shower. Once he scrubbed off what he felt like the top layer of skin to get the grime, dust, and whatever else off, he trimmed and shaved where necessary and hopped back in one more time to get rid of loose hairs and to scrub off the grease spot down his arm and over his shoulder he missed.

"This is why I usually shower with one of the women," he grumbled.

He finished up and joined the ladies in bed. He snuggled up to Natasha, "How're my Gorgeous Ladies?"

Natasha lifted her eyes, "Better now that you're here." She threw her leg over him like she did every night.

"I missed that."

"I was gone for two days."

"I can still miss it."

Pepper's phone rang. "Seriously? It's one a.m., at least."

"0113," Nat replied.

"How do you do that?" Pepper said after extricating herself from her comfortable snuggling. "It's Japan, do you mind?"

"Babe, go be a kickass woman. It's your superpower," Nat said smiling tiredly.

"In case you fall asleep before I get back, I love you. Both of you." Pepper leaned over and kissed both of them before answering the phone. "What is so important?"

Tony snuggled closer to her, "Natasha, seriously, how are you doing?"

She picked her hand up and put it on his face, "Tony, believe it or not, I've been in many much worse situations. I'm still tired; I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open. I have to see Jemma tomorrow to run some tests, but you are more than welcome to go with me."

He hugged her to him, "Deal."

She rolled him backward and put her head on his chest, "I love you, Tony."

"Я тоже люблю тебя, Наташа.*"

She yawned, "I think I'm going to go to sleep now."

Tony felt her relax against him. He stroked his fingers over her hip. A few minutes later he sighed as he felt Pepper crawl into bed. They caught each other's eyes. He reached out and caressed Pepper's cheek.

"I'm so happy we found her or she found us, whichever it was," Pepper smiled.

"Me, too," Tony said.

Pepper curled up behind Nat. She laid her head on Tony's bicep. She and Tony held hands over Nat's hip.

"I'm happy I found you, too," Nat said, muffled as she added her hand on top of theirs.

Tony and Pepper smiled at each other before getting more comfortable. Tony turned his head and kissed each of his ladies on the head. The way he figured, even with two redheads, his life was pretty damn perfect even if he had plenty of trouble, he had a lot of luck to balance it out.

Я тоже люблю тебя, Наташа - I love you too, Natasha.


End file.
